I Walk Alone
by Wolflmg
Summary: What would you do if the worst possible thing happened? And it was your fault. Would you even remember who you were? How would you deal with the pain? Would you even want to? That is what Sky Tate must learn, after one decision, one moment changed everyti
1. Dead Awake

Sky lay flat on his chest with his head buried in his pillow, a cool damp sweat covering his body and hair. He was breathing heavily, his right hand clenching at his pillow. He muttered softly in his sleep, but nothing that was making any sense, his face seemed to tense up… _…A loud screech…Bright lights….Heart pounding….Explosion ….BOOM!! _His eyes flashed open and he gasped. "…Not again."

The morning sun shone down on his face, coming from his dorm window. He blinked his eyes a few times to take in his surroundings, as if he didn't know where he was. It took a few more soft breaths to ease his mind; it was as if he was trying to make sure he was in his room ….and not where he had been.

"….Man, my head's killing me…" he muttered to himself, as he turned his head to the other side of his bed, his eyes locked right onto the young woman lying next to him. If he was surprised by her being there, he didn't show it. He slowly moved his arm that was lying under her, getting it free, then used it to rub his eyes and ran his hand over his face and hair.

He sat up on his bed, grabbing his boxer-shorts and a pair of his workout pants along with his shoes and socks. A moment later he felt the warm touch of skin run down his back; if it affected him in any way he didn't show it. He turned his head around to look a red-haired, greened-eyed woman in the eyes, a bright warm smile on her face. "Good morning," she fluttered.

"….Morning," Sky answered dryly, as he stood up and went to his dresser to grab a clean red shirt and put it on.

"….You're going to go work out on a Saturday?" she asked him, as she sat up in the bed pulling the sheets up over her chest. She briefly looked at the clock over on his nightstand. "….At 7 A.M., no less?"

"Yeah," as if it was the dumbest question he had ever heard. "I get up and work out every morning," he answered her, as he grabbed his morpher from his dresser and put it on his belt harness. "It being Saturday isn't an exception…"

"Even after….." She got up off the bed, taking the sheets with her and wrapping them around her body, "_Our_ _fun_ last night?" She wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to kiss him deeply on the lips, with intentions of wanting to do a lot more. "…You did have a lot to drink," she teased him, as she started to caress his cheek, then running her hand down his arm, taking his hand into her own. "….Come back to bed."

Sky pulled away, taking a few steps back. "….Look, maybe I wasn't clear last night at the bar." This hadn't been the first time this had happened, she hadn't been the first he had brought back to the academy, to his room. He had been through this speech before, had it practically memorized word for word. "You don't want to get involved with a guy like me. I work twenty-four/seven, taking on as many assignments as I can and can be gone for weeks at a time." He bit his lip as he looked her in the eyes. "I'm not looking to get involved with _anyone_…."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could he do this to her, after _last night…?_ But then she had been warned by a few people at the bar not to go near him, no matter how good-looking he was; now she knew why. "…Well, this does explain why you wouldn't let me tell you my name." She looked back at him, disgusted. "…All you wanted out of me was one night, wasn't it?"

Sky didn't answer, just stood there with his stone-cold face, much different then how she had seen him last night, but then he had had a few drinks and a lot of other things on his plate. It wasn't like he did this sort of thing all the time, he never planned to bring anyone back with him, but he just got so hammered and couldn't help himself…..as if some part of himself didn't want to wake up alone.

She raised her hand and slapped him across the face when he turned his head away from her. "You cold-hearted-bastard!" she screamed into his face, as she cursed herself wishing she had listened to the other people at the bar. "…You're a real piece of work, you know that!"

Sky took the slap across the face and didn't even flinch, he had been slapped before, punched in the stomach and one time even had a lamp thrown at him. It was nothing new to him, he expected it to happen. He looked her in the eyes once more, this time softening them a bit, as if he never really intended to hurt her. "…_I'm sorry_," before heading out of his room to go for a run, with the doors sliding behind him.

* * *

Five young cadets watched as Lt. Sky Tate ran around the track, as if it were nothing to him, while they went about doing their morning stretches on the mats. They were between seventeen and nineteen and on the verge of entering into the Ranger program within the year, so it was only natural to observe the best of the best the academy had to offer.

"I've heard, that in the last four years alone, he has brought in like a hundred of the most wanted criminals throughout the galaxy," exclaimed Matt Jones, as he stretched his legs out. "…Even killed one of them."

"I heard it was more like three hundred…." Maxie Sanders claimed, as she did a series of sit-ups. "…..And I heard _that_ criminal everyone thinks he killed, died in prison."

"Whatever…." Matt answered, not buying it; he knew it was against regulations for an SPD officer to kill any of the criminals they were trying to bring in, but in certain situations it was bound to happen. "And now that I think about it, I think it was two."

"….He is so _hot_!" exclaimed Brooke Rogers as she just stopped her routine and kept her eyes locked onto Sky, just admiring him from afar. Though she knew she didn't stand a chance with him, even though she was eighteen, it would be frowned upon greatly for a commanding officer and cadet to get involved and she knew for a fact that Sky Tate wouldn't break the rules for anyone. She saw all the glances her friends were giving her. "What? ….I can say he's cute."

"…Yeah. Okay." The oldest teen rolled his eyes, not beginning to understand how a girl like Brooke even got into the academy. She looked more like she belonged to some sorority than a Police Task Force. "….Well, I heard back when he was a rookie, that he did something so _big_, that the Commander despises him …but keeps him around, because he's too damn good at his job to kick out of the academy," exclaimed Luc Wilder as he did a series of push-ups. He had joined the academy about three and half year ago and was not a big fan of Sky Tate, sure the guy was good at his job, but Luc had heard several not too positive things about everyone's so-called hero. "If you ask me, the guy's not all he's cracked up to be."

"Hey." Matt glanced over at their other teammate who had his back to them, as he was stretching out his arms. He had been quiet throughout their whole discussion of the great Sky Tate. "…You've been at the academy for the longest, what do you know about Sky Tate?" Though it was just a few more months than Luc, he thought perhaps their young friend could provide something they might not know about Lt. Tate.

The young seventeen year old with short red hair turned around to face his friends. "…Just that he's ….the best," he answered. He turned back around to finish with stretching his legs and for a moment glanced over at Sky who was several feet away catching his breath from a long hard run.

"Come on, Gates; don't tell me you buy into the whole 'Lt. Tate, the greatest' shit…." Luc exclaimed.

The young teen sighed heavily, not answering Luc's comment - he knew far more than he was letting on about Sky Tate. But for his own reasons he kept what he knew to himself. Over the years every rumor imaginable had spread around the academy about the _great Sky Tate_, some were true; some were close to being the truth, while others weren't even close to being true and some were just bold-faced lies.

* * *

A little more than an hour later Sky returned to his room, now empty, with no trace of the young redheaded woman that he had shared a night of passion with, if you could call it that. He grabbed a water bottle from his mini fridge and took a few swigs out of it before tossing it on his bed and then grabbing his boxing gloves. He took a few quick punches at his punching bag hanging from the ceiling, and with each punch the pace grew more rapid.

_Rapid flashes ….BAM ….a body drops to the ground…_ Punch…. Punch…. _Everything's spinning…. _Punch….. Punch…. _He hears cries for help, but can't reach them…._ Faster…. Faster…. Punch…. Punch….. _Explosion…. Nothingness…._ Punch….. Punch…..Punch…. Until he could punch no more. Exhausted, Sky fell face forward, grabbing hold of the punching bag. "…Damnit!" he took a hard punch at the bag. "..Stop it… Just stop it, you idiot," he muttered under his breath.

"….So who was she this time?" asked Kat as she entered into Sky's room carrying a clipboard in her hand, going about her rounds of the base, making sure everything was in order. She wasn't new to Sky's habit that would start out with him going out to the bar, getting wasted and end up bringing some girl back with him. She would always be working late at night in the lab, and always spotted Sky returning to the academy with some girl wrapped around his body, giggling and kissing him heavily trying to get his shirt off, as they entered into his room.

"She was nobody," he answered as he went back to his routine, wishing to himself that Kat would just leave. This was another thing he had become accustomed to: Kat questioning his behavior, almost like clockwork she would show up trying to be motherly to him. "…Just a girl I met at a bar."

"It's always some girl from the bar."

"Your point?" Sky eyed her sharply, knowing where this was going. He wasn't a child or a low ranking D-Squad Cadet anymore. He didn't have to answer to her. What he did on his own time was his own damn business and no one else's. "….Why do you even care what I do? You're not my mother."

Kat sighed heavily, knowing that this was a hard time for Sky, it had always been and probably always would be. "It's been _four_ years, Sky …..and what you're doing-"

"-_If_ you got a problem with my extra curricular activities, Kat..." He got right into her face, feeling a rush of anger and irritation come over him, as if any second now he would blow up at her and rip her apart. "Take it up with Commander Cruger!" He tossed off his gloves onto his bed. "Otherwise just stay out of what's not any of your damn business, because it doesn't concern _you_!" He looked her hard in the eyes, as he brushed against her shoulder to exit his room.

Kat turned, watching him go with a sadness in her eyes that looked like it had been there for a very long time. "…What's happened to you, Sky?" But then she knew what had happened to him….

"So how goes the rounds, Dr. Manx?" asked Cruger as he looked up from his post in the Command Center to see Kat walking up to him.

"You _need_ to talk to him, Doggie," she exclaimed.

Cruger sighed heavily, knowing very well what Kat was talking about. It had to do with Sky's extra activities, something he knew very well about; almost everyone in the whole academy knew. "As I've told you before, what Sky does on his own time is none of my business. He's twenty-four; he is quite capable of making his own decisions."

"Am I the only voice of reason in this place anymore?" she exclaimed, knowing full well that if it were any other cadet, that Cruger would not approve at all of what Sky was doing, but ever since….

"Excuse me?" he growled, looking her hard in the face, not liking her tone or her questioning his authority. "I am the Commander of this base. I think I know when to stand my ground with one of my officers!"

"So you're okay with him going out and getting himself drunk to the point that he can't even think straight, bringing a different girl back with him each time, just to have something that come morning will be meaningless?" she exclaimed, getting close to being hysterical.

"I have no control over what he does on his own time."

"Will you listen to yourself!" she snapped. After four years of this, she was sick and tired of it. Things needed to get back into order. Sure they had defeated Gruumm, and had done a number of great other things, but this thing between Sky and Cruger needed to stop, to be put an end to. She got right into his face, wanting to make her next words perfectly clear to her old-time friend. "Things with you and Sky have not been the same since that _day_…" It had been the worst day of all of their lives. The day when everything had changed in ways none of them thought would ever happen.

She sighed heavily, seeing that distant and grief-stricken look in his eyes. "You don't ever talk to him outside of it being an assignment or mission." She seemed to be near tears, because it was pure torture for her having to witness all of it happening before her eyes. "You don't look at him the same…."

Though it broke his heart seeing Kat in so much torment, it just wasn't enough for him to see past everything…. "It's just the way things are, Kat. After that day, it changed all of us…."

"Yes it did." She smiled faintly as she set her reports in front of him. "…But how long will this thing between you two go on? How long before one of these missions kills him?" She paused for a moment, a lump in her throat. "How long before we really lose Sky?" she questioned him. Her face became even more serious. "Because we're losing him, Doggie. Each year that passes by, he gets worse and worse, and farther away from us. …I'm afraid one day he'll get his wish."

"I…." Doggie bowed his head…..

_He and Sky were in the Command Center. He'd had to lecture Sky in the past, but never like this. His once prized cadet, that he had so much hope for, just stood there, his head bowed down with grief. "I have never been more disappointed with you than I am today. This was the worst possible time for your selfishness and your arrogance. Your actions were careless, reckless, and irresponsible…. I cannot be held responsible for what you allowed to happen, I won't! This is on you…."_

_"Yes sir…" Sky answered, but never meeting his commander's eyes._

He knew Kat was right, Sky hadn't gotten any better, not with everything that had happened. He just hadn't been able to look Sky in the eye the way he used to, hadn't been able to talk to him. "….I'm sorry, Kat, but… I just _can't_ anymore." He turned away. "….not with him."

"Can't? …or wont?" she questioned him. She just shook her head, sighing heavily, as she looked him right in the eyes. "You'll never forgive him, will you?" She just couldn't believe it after all this time, after how many years had gone by. "…Sky knows what happened was his fault and makes sure that a day doesn't go by that he forgets that …but he doesn't need you to remind him of _his_ mistake." She turned away and started out of the Command Center, but before she walked through the sliding doors she turned to look at him. "Isn't it enough that for the rest of his life he has to live with his guilt?"

* * *

Sky let the hot water run over his body, he closed his eyes as he raised his head up, drenching his face with the water and letting it roll down his back. After a long hard work-out this morning, it was just what he needed to wash everything away, so he could finish up the rest of the day and put it behind him, to start again tomorrow. It had been four years ago today since his life had changed, changed in a way he never thought possible. He was where he wanted to be with his career, red Ranger, top of the academy, had brought in a number of criminals over the years, he had taken on risky and deadly missions. He was the most feared SPD officer throughout the galaxy, much like his father had been. No one would dare mess with The Great Sky Tate, not if they wanted to live to tell about it.

The water continued to run down his body, he kept his eyes closed, as a memory of that very day came back to haunt him, as it did every year and every day of his life, as if the water had some effect of replaying a memory he wished to just wash away…..

_Sky ran through the sandy mountainside as the wind began to pick up, the sky began to darken as rain started to pour down, violent lightning struck the ground around him causing massive sparks, enough to start a fire, rain began to pour down hard. He could hear voices calling out his name, screaming for help, but every direction he turned, no one was in sight, only smoke and fire. Blaster shots and explosions could be heard in the distance, he tried calling out their names, but no answers came, the planet began to shake rapidly, the ground began to crack…. He looked at his bloodstained hands, he was mortified …He could feel his heart racing… Pounding against his chest…. His eyes widened in fear when he saw the ground around him opened up, all the way through the crust, red hot magma emerging within it. He ran, trying to locate where the voice came from…._

"Hey, you almost finished in there? You've been in there for the last half-hour!"

Sky shook his head as the voice broke through his memory. He opened his eyes and ran a hand over his wet face. "Yeah. I'll be out in a minute." He reached up and turned off the shower before grabbing his towel and wrapping it around his waist and exiting his shower.

"….Oh, sorry, Lt. Tate, I didn't know-"

"Don't worry about it. The shower's all yours," answered Sky as he headed over to the mirror to shave, allowing the young cadet to have the shower he had been in. For a moment he just stared in the mirror, no longer recognizing the man staring back at him. He opened up his small pack and took out his razor and shaving cream; he rubbed the cream over his face and then went about shaving with the razor…..

_"What are you doing in here? …You do know this is the guys' bathroom, right?" asked Sky, as he saw Syd's reflection in the mirror while he shaved. "…You know you could get in a lot of trouble for this."_

_"…And I suppose you'll be the one to tell Commander Cruger," she exclaimed as she watched him shave, giggling to herself._

_"What's so funny?" a little annoyed._

_"You're doing it wrong."_

_"Excuse me?" He turned to her. "I've been shaving for a while now, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing." He went back to shaving and then cut himself, a little bit of blood dribbled down his cheek._

_"Uh huh… You were saying, hot shot…?"_

_"If you hadn't distracted me, this wouldn't have happened." _

_"You just keep telling yourself that…" She took the razor out of his hand and stood in front of him._

_"What do you think you're doing?" _

_"I'm going to show you how it's done." She looked him firmly in the eyes. "Now just stand still."_

_"Syd…." But it was no use, once she made up her mind on something there was nothing you could do to stop it. _

_Syd careful shaved away all the hair on his face. "There…" She looked up at him and smiled. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"_

"You all right, sir?" asked an SPD officer, as he joined him by the mirror. He had been at the academy for about six years and though he and Lt. Tate never really had hung out much, he did know him well enough to know when something was wrong.

Sky cleaned off the razor in the sink and then put it away. "…I'm fine, Danny," he answered before exiting the bathroom to go and make his daily rounds around the academy before heading to the mess hall to grab some lunch.

Sky set his tray of food onto an empty table and took a seat alone, away from everyone else. His rounds had gone well: checking up on cadets, making sure everything was in order and that Boom hadn't blown anything up today. If it were any other day, he would consider it to be a good one. He started to cut his apple when one of the cadets sat down across from him.

"Hey Sky…." he announced. Sky didn't answer, but did acknowledge the young cadet's presence with a small nod, as he ate a piece of his cut off apple. "How you holding up today?"

Sky's eyes darkened a little, but this wasn't the time or the place for him to be lashing out. The teen had nothing to do with what was going on with him. "….Is there something you need, Sam?"

Sam bit his lip; every year he would ask that question and every time Sky would come back with the same answer, but in years past he had never needed anything, but this time there was something. "…I'm sure that you are aware that next year is when Commander Cruger will be selecting members from the B-squad to enter into the Ranger track program."

"Yeah…." Sky answered dryly, as he took a sip of his water.

"And, well, I've been having a little trouble with my training and my scores. ….I was wondering …if you had the time, maybe you could train me?" he asked hopefully.

Sam's eyes were basically begging him to say yes. Sky had to turn away, because for a moment he saw little twelve year old Sam looking back at him, an image he wanted to get out of his mind because of what it did to him. He sighed heavily. "….Don't you think someone else would be more suitable for you?" he answered as he turned back.

"Maybe." Sam licked his lips. "But you are the best and I want to become the best, like you."

Sky stared at his food tray. No longer hungry, he pushed it away and looked up at Sam with very little emotion. "I'm only the best because I don't allow myself to become attached to anyone. I don't have to be worried with what I'm leaving behind, because if I don't make it back, it won't matter. That's why I am the best, Sam…" He stood up from his seat. "…You should find someone else to train you. Sorry, but I can't help you."

Sam sighed heavily as he watched Sky leave. This is what their relationship had turned into, much different from when he had first arrived at the academy all those years ago, but things had changed since then. And he knew why Sky kept him at a distance, never letting him in, but he had hoped that with time he would be able to break through that and get his friend back. But it seemed clear to Sam, now, that too much had happened.

* * *

Sky walked down the prisoner visiting room, where visitors and those imprisoned could talk to each other. Sky took his seat and waited for the guard to bring the prisoner he wanted to speak with. He started to rub his right wrist, which had a small scar that he had gotten years ago. A moment later, an all too familiar face showed up and sat across from him, with a smirk on his face.

"Is it that time of the year already?" Dru grinned. He was an old friend of Sky's back from his early days at the academy. "My, how the time flies…"

Sky didn't answer as he continued to rub his right wrist and stared down at his scar….. _Sky ran down the SPD halls, blaster in hand, as if his life depended upon it, his heart racing, and fury burning within him. And then he spotted him… "Dru, stop!" His voice echoed. He raised his blaster up, pointing it at his friend. _

_Dru turned around, his face emotionless, with a blank uncaring stare as he looked right back at Sky._

_"Tell me it isn't true… Tell me Boom was wrong…"_

_Dru chuckled under his breath. "Sorry to disappoint you, Sky, but for once that incompetent lamebrain is correct…"_

_A surge of hurt and feeling of betrayal crossed over Sky's face. He felt like he was going to be sick, as the feeling hit him right in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't believe it. He wished this was just all some horrible nightmare. His hands shook around the trigger of his blaster. "Why! ….Tell me why, Dru… Why them? Why Mirloc…." He struggled with all his might to hold it all together. "Why….."_

_"-Easy, my friend," smirked Dru, as he clasped his hands behind his back. "For money and power. Mirloc and Wootox were able to provide me all that and more…" he gloated._

_"He killed my father, Dru… And you let him out." He bit his lips. "I trusted you!"_

_"Yes, well ….you can never be too careful about who you trust, now can you?" He grinned. "….You should have listened to Jack."_

_Sky tensed up and tightened his hands around the blaster. "You're under arrest!"_

_"I don't think so." Before Sky could even react Dru moved his hands so quickly from behind his back to reveal a blaster of his own, and quicker than lightning shot at Sky, hitting him directly in the wrist, making contact with the very object that represented the friendship the two had once shared. _

_Sky dropped to the ground clutching at his injured wrist, watching as Dru hovered over him. Dru bent down and picked up a piece of the bracelet he had given Sky years ago, no longer meaning anything to him. He tossed it in his former friend's face. "Next time you come after me, only one of us will walk away." His eyes sneered down at Sky. "…And don't think I won't hesitate to kill you."_

Sky sighed heavily as the memory faded away. "How's prison life treating you, Dru…." Sky asked, ignoring Dru's impending mocking question.

Dru just shook his head. Every year at exactly the same time Sky would show up wanting a visit with him. It had become a tradition. "How's yours, Sky? …Cruger still keeping you around?" he joked, laughing to himself. He clasped his hands together, giving Sky a cunning smile. "So who was the girl this time? ….some cute, nice assed blonde?"

"…Leave her out of this?" he snapped.

"Do you really think you ever stood a chance with her?" he questioned his old friend. "I probably did you a favor…." He watched as Sky tensed up, anger burning in his eyes. Dru just shook his head in a mocking way. "Why do you torture yourself, Sky? Year after year you come here, asking the same questions over and over. Do you really believe that I will provide you with answers as to why… to ease your agony?" He knew Sky far better than anyone, maybe even better than Sky himself, which gave him the advantage. "The answer is as it always has been, for money and power, the pure enjoyment of watching death first hand." He leaned closer across the table against the clear window, a big smirk on his face. "And I have you to thank for that…."

'….You bastard!" Sky clenched his fists together, slamming them against the counter. He could feel anger burn within him, his stomach began to twist and turn, making him feel sick. But he would not allow himself to break down in front of Dru, he would not show weakness.

Dru stood up from his seat, smirking back at Sky. "Guess I'll see you same time next year."

Sky remained seated for just a few minutes longer, with his head bowed down, with Dru's very words replaying over and over in his mind. _'…And I have you to thank for that'_. "Damnit!" He slammed his fist against the table. "…Damnit! ….._Damnit!_"

* * *

He turned up the speed on his bike, hoping that the faster he went, the faster the day would go by. The day seemed to just drag on and on, seconds felt like minutes, and minutes left like hours, and hours felt like days. He just wanted the day to end, to be over; for a whole another year to start.

_"A robbery was reported on Bunker South Street; all personnel please respond,"_ came a voice from Sky's bike radio.

He tapped on his helmet where there was a small speaker. "This is Lt. Tate. I'm just a few blocks from there."

_"Copy that, Lt. Tate, we'll send a team in to join you…."_

"Negative, by the time they arrive I will have the situation under control. Lt. Tate out." He tapped on his helmet once more to end the transmission. Sky sped down the street, heading in the direction of where the robbery was taking place. It wasn't long before he locked his eyes onto one of the robbers running out of the bank. Sky headed straight towards him and then lifted up his leg, kicking the robber to the ground before coming to a full stop and jumping off his bike.

"What the hell is your problem!" exclaimed the robber as he jumped to his feet.

"You…" Sky tossed his helmet to the ground and went for the robber, arms and legs flying. The robber managed to get one good punch at Sky's face, but would soon come to regret it. "You picked the wrong guy to mess with!" Sky moved quickly, turning his body for a round kick, kicking the robber right in the head and knocking him down to the ground.

The robber angrily pushed himself to his feet and ran straight towards Sky, but only to be smacked right in the face with one of Sky's shields. The robber dropped to the ground; this time he didn't dare get up. Sky hovered over him, pointing his blaster right at him, eyes narrowed down at him. "You're under arrest." He pulled the robber to his feet and cuffed him.

Sky returned to the academy, prisoner in hand, and turned him over to two cadet officers to take him into confinement, as he headed off to watch a group of the cadets in the simulation room through a one-way glass. Inside he found both Kat and Boom observing.

"Hey Sky, heard you caught that robber that's been holding-up all the local banks this past month," exclaimed Boom. "…All on your own, no less, that's great!"

"….Or reckless," commented Kat, as she looked up from her clipboard over to Sky.

Sky tightened his face, not wanting to get into another conversation about what he did with Kat. He decided to shift the conversation onto something else. "….So how are they doing?" he asked, as he walked closer to the glass to get a better look.

"Good," noted Kat, looking down at her clipboard where she made all the observations. "The scores are all high …but Sam's could use some improvement if he is to be considered for the Ranger track program. He has it in him, he just needs more training." She eyed Sky.

"I already told him no. I don't think it's a good idea for me to train him." He turned to Kat, crossing his arms against his chest. "I suppose you're the one who put him up to it?"

"No, I did not! If Sam asked you, it was all him," she exclaimed, not liking his tone, but would let it slide considering what today was. "But I'm not surprised that he asked you. He looks up to you, Sky, he always has…"

Sky bowed his head down, sighing, as he turned away and looked back through the glass. His eyes locked onto Sam, who was fighting against one of the simulation foes; he was a good fighter, but showed some struggle. "…Well, he shouldn't…"

…_.Sky bent down on his knees in front of Sam, his face saddened, his uniform torn and covered in blood, a lump in his throat as he was eye to eye with little Sam. The young boy stared at Sky and looked up to Cruger, who was standing behind Sky, his arms crossed against his chest. Sam looked back to Sky. "…What's wrong…"_

_Sky didn't answer, just bowed his head down, unable to tell the young boy. Cruger's voice would leave him with no chance at getting out of it. "…You have to be the one to tell him, Sky…"_

_Sky sighed heavily as he took a deep breath and looked back up to the boy, trying to stay as strong as he could. "…Sam, I…."_

"Sky…." Kat started to reach for his shoulder, but Sky pulled away, not wanting her sympathy. She sighed heavily, as she walked over to the wall communicator. "End simulation…. Great job cadets, that's it for today…" Kat turned around, hoping to catch Sky, but he was already gone. She looked over to Boom who smiled faintly, shaking his head.

* * *

It was quiet as a large group of people consisting of cadets, officers, SPD scientists and other SPD personnel stood outside. They all gathered around a large monument where a flame was slowly burning; some of them stayed there long enough for the four bells to sound off, echoing off into the distance. Some stayed for a few minutes longer, but just as the sun began to set only a few remained. Sky stood in front of the monument wearing a pair of sunglasses, standing tall, in just a few more hours the day would end and it would be tomorrow and four years would have gone by.

He bowed his head down and stared at the inscription that had been placed on the monument as a reminder. It was something he had implanted in his mind and would always have there. He would never be able to forget, no matter how much time would pass by. It was and would always be his curse, his _prison…_

And just like every year since the first, he felt the presence of the lone shadow behind him, keeping his distance. He didn't need to turn around to know who it was; they had always been the ones to stay until the flame went out.

"I will train you…. But only on three conditions…. The last condition, don't ever complain about how hard I push you or how tired you will get or how bad it hurts… The second condition, don't ever question me… You may not like what I have to say or even agree with me, but I don't want to hear about it. ….And the biggest condition, the most important out of the three, that once you make it into the program and become a Ranger, that's it. I am not looking for a sidekick. I walk alone, Sam." A few moments passed with nothing said between the two, as Sky cleared his throat. "Is that understood?"

"….Yes sir," answered Sam.

"Good." He never once turned to face Sam, just kept still the entire time, keeping up his stone wall, never letting his guard down. "Now, you better head in for the night, because tomorrow you and I are getting up bright and early to start your training."

"Yes sir!" Sam saluted Sky, full well knowing that Sky's main reason for saying that last part was that right now he wanted to be alone. In years past he would always say something to get him to leave and every time Sam would obey. He just hoped that one year Sky would let him remain there and open up more about the day he knew haunted his friend and probably would always.

Sky gulped in heavily, trying to stay in control as he watched the flame burn out. All he allowed was one single tear to fall…

_'In honor and great gratitude for our fallen officers. You will always be heroes in our eyes. You will forever live on in Space Patrol Delta's memory.'_ It was followed with four names…. _'Jack Landers, Elizabeth Delgado, Bridge Carson, and Sydney Drew'_

"…I'm sorry, guys. I failed you…"


	2. Echoes

He opened his eyes slowly, hearing the sound from his alarm clock alerting him it was six o'clock on Sunday morning. He had woken up just as he always did for these last four years, that same numbness and emptiness feeling that had over taken him. And just like every night, his nightmares would live on. Sky Tate could not recall a time in the last four years that he did not have a nightmare of that day. The day when blood was scattered, the blood of his fallen comrades, his team, and his friends. Even now their horrifying screams echoed in his mind, it made him sick to his stomach.

The only thing that had kept him going was his determination to bring in every criminal and fugitive that he could find, no matter what danger it held. In fact the more danger the better; he preferred to have higher risk missions. It made it easier for him to block the screams in his head. He no longer cared whether he would live or die; his life didn't mean anything to him anymore. Only the task at hand.

"Let's see if this will be the year." Sky turned to his clock, the time now ten after six. The day before he had told Sam he would meet him on the training course at 6:30 to begin the young teen's training. He was beginning to wonder if he had made a wise decision when he had agreed to train Sam so he would be considered for the Ranger track program. It wasn't a doubt that Sam was cut out to be a Ranger, he had seen the man he had grown up to be, but with everything that had happened, he had to wonder if that Sam would still exist.

_Omega Ranger stood in front of Sky as he was saying his goodbyes, knowing he would be going back to a better future then the one he had come from, but knowing that same empty feeling, that piece that had been missing from his life would remain. He might have saved their lives from one horrific act, but only for them to be doomed to another. And now he would have to leave Sky here knowing that once he and Nova Ranger left, it might be the last time he would ever see his friend again. A lot could happen in fifteen years. _

_He sighed heavily as he looked his old friend in the eyes, now able to look at him with his own eyes and not through the Ranger mask that he had for the better part of these past months been trapped in, due to an accident that took place when he came through the time hole. Thankfully his teammate Nova had been able to fix that; as much as he enjoyed being a Ranger, he had missed being himself. "Promise me that when I get back you'll be there to greet me." _

_"You know I can't make that promise, Sam," answered Sky, as he stared back at the man who was a good seven years older than him, which was a strange feeling since he was the eldest of the two. "I don't know what the future has in store." He knew what Sam was asking of him, but he couldn't give him that._

_He sighed heavily, as he heard his friend who hadn't identified herself as anyone but Nova. "We have to go Sam, the longer we wait. The more dangerous it'll be for us to return," he heard her tell him._

_Sam nodded his head, knowing she was right. That had been one of the reason his …accident had happened. "Right…" He cleared his throat as he smiled faintly back at Sky. "If you can't promise me that, you won't be there when I get back." He licked his lips. "Then promise not to forget about me." Both he and Nova were unsure what fate had in store for them, but one thing was for sure, the timeline had changed, which would mean different destinies could be in store for them all. And that feeling made him all the more terrified and excited at the same time. _

It seemed like a lifetime ago since he had said goodbye to Sam, a much older Sam than he knew today, a tad more than ten years younger. Older Sam had indeed succeeded in changing the timeline, first with his coming from the future to the year 2025 to warn them that they would die in battle by Gruumm's hand and that SPD would fall, which would be followed with the Earth's remaining humans who had survived the first few waves of attacks becoming enslaved to do Gruumm's bidding. Thanks to Sam, the Omega Ranger, that wouldn't happen, but something just as bad would happen in its place some months later.

Sighing heavily, Sky got out of his bed and changed into his training clothes to go and begin Sam's training before he would begin a little of his own workout session. And as he headed out of his room down the halls of the SPD Academy, he had to wonder if this Sam would become the Omega Ranger; would that part of the future stay intact or had fate been altered and another would take his place. Perhaps that was why Sam's skills weren't up to par, with the Earth and humanity not on the outs maybe there was no reason for Sam to ever become a Ranger. Or maybe it was just the back of his mind telling him that some part of him didn't want Sam to become a Ranger.

Sky's mind was so focused on his thoughts that he nearly bumped into Luc Wilder, as he and another cadet were walking in the opposite direction. Sky stepped back and stared at the two. "Cadets Wilder and Jones."

"Lt. Tate," announced Matt as he acknowledged his commanding officer. "Good morning."

"Morning," answered Sky. He then turned to Luc, who was giving him the dirtiest of looks, and if it wasn't Sunday he probably would show some from of discipline on the cadet who had graduated last year and knew far better than to glare at a commanding officer in such disproval. "Cadet Wilder."

"Lieutenant," answered Luc coolly. He was in no way intimidated by Sky, unlike many of the other cadets at the academy. Sky Tate might be his commanding officer, but that didn't mean he had to like him.

It was no secret to Sky that Luc Wilder didn't like him; you'd have to be deaf and blind not to notice that, but he really didn't give a damn. He could care less if the whole academy hated him; he wasn't here to make friends, he was here to do his job and as much as he liked to bully some snot-nosed cadet for being disrespectful, he had to meet up with Sam. "You two enjoy your day off."

Luc and Matt watched as Sky headed down the hall and turned a corner. Matt glanced at Luc, just shaking his head. "What?" Luc exclaimed. "The guy's a dickhead and you know it."

"He's also our Commanding Officer," noted Matt, as they started down the hall towards the messhall for breakfast. Matt was not one for wanting to get on any one's bad side, especially when it would be the bad side of a Commanding Officer. "I don't get why you hate the guy, it's not like he ever did anything to you. ...And he could have disciplined you right then and there for being an ass to him."

Luc smirked. "Let me make a note of that. Lt. Sky let me get off for being an ass and not sucking up to him like everybody else here does," he mocked. "And my reason for not liking the guy has nothing to do with if he's done anything to me." He got in line, grabbing a tray as he turned to Matt. "I just plain old don't like the guy."

Matt rolled his eyes, as he nodded his head. "So I've noticed."

"Where's Sammy-boy?" asked Luc, as he grabbed a muffin along with a carton of juice and placed it on his tray, alongside his bacon and eggs. "I thought the three of us were having breakfast together?"

"Said he'd meet up with us later in the day, he had something else he needed to take care of," answered Matt.

* * *

They had been at it for the better part of the morning, first with a five mile run that landed them in the park where Sky had instructed Sam through a series of stretches before the two began to spar against each other. Sky had made it very clear that he would not go easy on Sam. The seventeen-year-old was a B-Level cadet who wanted to be entered into the Ranger track program, where he would be going up against a high level of training that goes up and beyond the norm for basic B-level cadets.

"Come on Sam, you have to hit harder than that!" exclaimed Sky, as he took a hit in the shoulder that didn't feel more then a hard push.

Sam tightened his fists together harder, as his face tensed up. He was exhausted; Sky's training was far harder than the training that Kat had put him and his friends through, but from Sky he wouldn't expect anything less. He had known all too well what he would be getting himself into asking for Sky's help. Sam knew Sky would work him hard and would expect for him to give his all.

"You can do better than that, Sam!" Sky announced as he easily blocked Sam's quick and swift moves. The red Ranger returned with a move of his own, knocking Sam's feet right from under him. He stood above Sam staring down at the young man, he held out his hand to help him up. "Again!"

Sam took Sky's hand, letting him help him back to his feet. He took a deep breath as he got back into a fighting stance, as the two went at it again. Sam was determined more than ever; he was not about to give up, no matter how much his bones ached or how badly it hurt. He was going to do this. He started using that motivation to go harder at Sky, keeping his mind focused.

"Good," exclaimed Sky, as he took a hard hit in the shoulder from Sam. "You're getting better; let's see if you can up your pace." Sky started moving faster, throwing punches and kicks at Sam, knowing all too well that speed was an important thing for a Ranger to have.

The punches and kicks came at Sam fast; he almost didn't have enough time to keep up with all the fast motions to block Sky's moves from hitting him. He knew if he didn't do something quickly, Sky would have him backed up against something and he would be trapped. Sam knew he had one advantage that his mentor didn't, in a quick motion Sam teleported away and then reappeared right behind Sky, and before Sky could even react Sam quickly grabbed a hold of his mentor. He had one arm wrapped around Sky's neck and anther one latched onto Sky's arm. "…Gotcha!"

"Good." Sky had to admit, he hadn't expect that move from Sam. "…But not good enough!" Before Sam could even react to Sky's words, Sky once again proved to be the stronger of the two, as he used his free arm to elbow Sam in the gut, causing the young cadet to let Sky loose. Taking the opportunity, Sky grabbed a hold of Sam, tossing him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Sky stared down at Sam, who was lying flat on the ground, breathing heavily, exhausted and tired. "You're getting better, but you always need to anticipate your opponent's next move," he stated, as he held out his hand. "Otherwise this will happen a lot more often."

"Right." Sam gratefully took Sky's hand, knowing he would get all the help he could get to get back on his feet.

Sky nodded his head as he walked over to his bag, grabbing a bottle of water; he took a quick sip before tossing the other bottle to Sam. "Same time, tomorrow." Sky then threw his pack over his shoulder and started to walk off, leaving Sam to rest in the park for a while.

"Easy for you to say," muttered Sam, as he took a gulp of the water, then poured it on his face to cool down.

* * *

It felt good to have the wind against him as he walked downtown after a hard workout with Sam. Just to be able to get away for a while until he would head back to the academy, to take a shower before starting the rest of the day and start off a new week. He was just about to head into the bakery to grab something to eat, when a familiar voice caught his ear.

"Piggy can you double-check and make sure to see if there is any room left in the truck?" announced a woman's voice.

"Sure thing," Piggy said.

Sky started walking towards the truck with the names Samuels Clothing, just as Piggy walked out of the building. The two came face to face, in what was an awkward and uncomfortable moment for both of them. It had been close to two years since the two had last seen each other. "When'd you guys get back in town?"

"You shouldn't be here," said Piggy as he kept his voice down low and half looked over his shoulder. "She doesn't want to see you and personally I can't say I blame her."

"You're the last _thing_ on the face of the Earth to say anything about your personal feelings," exclaimed Sky harshly, not liking Piggy's tone. He still couldn't believe that Piggy was one of the good guys and no longer the scumbag he used to be. The change had come weeks after Jack and the others had been killed. In fact it had partly been because of Piggy that they had been able to take down Gruumm, which still made Sky sick to even think about it, that someone who had been working both sides of the table at one time was the reason they had defeated Gruumm.

"Well, I see your attitude hasn't changed much," muttered Piggy. "She won't like that."

"Shove it, Pig-" Sky's voice was cut off, as Piggy's companion came to check on why she hadn't heard from him.

"Piggy, I thought…." Ally Samuel's voice drifted off, as she found the reason why Piggy had become distracted. Their eyes locked in what was uncomfortable silence, given the history the two had with each other.

_This was hard. He had already told Sam about the fate of their friends, now he would have to tell Jack's girlfriend of three months about what had become of her love interest. Which was something he was not looking forward to; he barely knew Ally, had only met her a couple of times, but he knew deep down she needed to hear it from a familiar face and not on the news. _

_He had been standing at her doorstep in the pouring rain for the last couple of minutes, not knowing how he was supposed to do this. He started to reach his hand up to knock, but before he got a chance, it opened and he was face to face with her. "Sky?" She looked at him, confused, not at all sure why Sky Tate was at her door; he was the last person she thought she'd ever see showing up at this time of the night. "What are you doing here?"_

_He sighed heavily, not knowing where to even start. "…It's Jack." He bit his lip hard, not even able to meet her eyes. "And the others."_

_"Wh-What about them?" She felt her heart racing, because something told her that it wasn't good news. "I've been trying to call Jack for the last three hours. He hasn't been answering his cell." The last time she had spoken to Jack was when he had called her hours before he and the others were going to head off to train on Zentor. "Sky, what's going on?"_

_It was clear to him by the sound of her voice that she and Jack had grown close to each other in the few short months they had dated. He had resented the fact that Jack had gotten himself involved in a relationship, maybe even hated him for it, but now he would give anything just to take it all back, so he wouldn't have to be standing here at that moment to be giving Ally the worst news possible about her boyfriend. "I'm sorry…." He licked his lips and with a heavy heart looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Ally, it was a trap…."_

_"What are you saying!" she exclaimed, because deep down she knew. Tears began to form in her eyes as she looked into Sky saddened and lost blue eyes, a look she had never seen from him before. "No… No….," she cried, not wanting it to be true._

_"I couldn't save them…." His voice just started mumbling on and on, all he wanted was for it to be over, he wanted it to end right there and then, because the pain was too much for him to handle. "I couldn't save them."_

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice full of all sort of emotions, none of which were happy to see him standing there. It had been a good couple of years since she had last seen him, and even then it hadn't been on good terms.

"I was just out for a run and then I saw the truck," he pleaded his case. "I wasn't looking for you. I-I didn't even know you were back in town." The last person he expected to run into today was Ally Samuels, his former team leader's girlfriend, who was someone who had come to detest him, and he really couldn't blame her.

Ally took a few minutes to take a few calming breaths, not wanting to draw attention to herself from any of the bystanders passing through. "Piggy, could you please finish loading up the truck?"

"Are you sure, Ally?" asked Piggy; he could just see the tension growing between the two and knew very well that things could get out of hand when Sky was involved. "I could make him go away for you." A part of him had felt that after Jack had passed that it was his sole mission in life to help Ally, in what he knew Jack would have done, if he were alive today.

"That won't be necessary, thank you," she answered, as she kept her eyes locked on Sky.

Reluctantly Piggy nodded his head. "Okay, but if you change your mind, just let me know," he replied, as he headed back into the building to grab the last few boxes.

She had known that sooner or later she would have run into him, it might as well be now, at least then she could get it done and over with. "We've been back for about two weeks." For the last two years she had been out of the country helping distribute clothing for the needy, something her family's company had been known to do over the years. The couple of years away had come to a relief to her, just needing to get away for a while, after everything that had happened. "We were able to help a lot of people."

"Good." Sky nodded his head. "That's good." He licked his lips, as if he had other intentions, like he wanted to hear something else from her other than how well her charity mission had gone.

Ally could tell right away what Sky wanted from her, she crossed her arms against her chest. "Don't bother looking, he's not here."

"I'd like to see him," he answered, looking into her eyes, hoping that she would comply with what he asked.

"We've already been through this!" The girl who had stolen Jack's heart just shook her head. "No!" Her face tensed up as she struggled to hold tears back. "You don't get to see _him_," she sneered. "You don't get to come near him."

"I want to help!" He had never thought he could ever be so desperate, but this was something he felt compelled to do. "Please, let me help you," he exclaimed.

"Help?" She just shook her head in disbelief and looked him right in the eyes. "You can barely help yourself!" she shot back at him. "He needs stability, Sky, and from what I've seen you're anything but stable." She knew all too well about Sky's habits. "The drinking, the girls, the dangerous missions, and reckless behavior."

Sky turned his face away, frowning, as she pointed out some of his bad and common habits that had accumulated over these last few years. The two barely knew each other, but she had come to know him through and through.

"Do you really think he needs to be in the middle of that?"

"Ally…I'm sorry-" started Sky, but only to have Ally cut him off. She no longer cared to hear what he had to say. She didn't want to hear it.

"You're always sorry!" she exclaimed as she headed towards the truck, just as Piggy loaded the last box. She sighed heavily and looked him in the eyes once more; her face softened a bit, seeing how pitiful he really was. "Don't worry about us. We've been doing just fine."

He wanted to say something else, but Ally had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with him and wanted him to stay out of her life. All he could do was stand there and watch as she drove off in the truck with Piggy, leaving him behind, all the while knowing that it had been his own damn fault that things had come to be like this. _'You have nobody but yourself to blame for this, Sky.'_

* * *

Sam walked into the room that he shared with Matt and plopped down on his bed, exhausted and tired. His whole body ached to the point he didn't think he would be able to move to go take a shower.

The doors swished open and in walked Matt; he noticed Sam right away lying on the bed face down. "Hey, what the hell happened to you?"

Sam turned over onto his back so he was able to face Sam. "Just got back from a workout."

"Yeah, I can see that," answered Matt, nodding his head as he tossed Sam an apple he had brought back with him. He sat down on his bed. "You normally don't work out on a Sunday, what's with the new trend?"

Sam took a bite of the apple and swung his legs over the bed so he was across from Matt. "I'm trying to shape up more, to raise my scores, so that I'll be ready when testing comes to see if I make the cut for the Ranger Track Program."

"Well, it looks like you got your money's worth of a workout," commented Matt, taking note of how tired Sam looked.

Sam chuckled, agreeing with his friend. "Yeah, well, when Lt. Tate's your trainer, I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Lt. Tate, as in Sky Tate, is training you?" asked Matt.

Sam nodded his head. "Yeah." He took a drink of his water. "Something wrong with that?"

"No," Matt answered as he shrugged his shoulders. "At least not with me. Luc might have something to say about it."

"Which is exactly why I'm not telling him," said Sam, as he took another bite of his apple.

"Probably would be for the best," agreed Matt, knowing that Luc was not one to be giving positive comments when it came to Sky Tate, in fact it was the total opposite. "I don't know what the guy's problem is, but he has something against Lt. Tate."

"Any idea what it is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," answered Matt. "I mean Luc's normally a pretty cool guy when it comes to everyone, but for some reason it's not so with the Lieutenant." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was going to ask you if you knew anything, since you've been here a little longer."

A couple seconds later the doors swished open and Luc walked in looking like he was ready to hit the beach. "Hey, you boys ready? I told the girls we'd meet them in a half hour." He then spotted Sam wearing sweaty workout clothes. "Sammy, you went out for a run this morning?"

"…Ah yeah," he answered, as he turned to Luc. "Thought it would be good for my training."

"Well, next time you go, let me know and I'll go with you." He patted the teen on the back. "Now go get cleaned up, the girls are waiting for us."

"Sure thing," replied Sam, as he got up and headed out of the room to go get cleaned up.

**Later that night….**

Sky was on night duty, standing watch in the Command Center; try as he might he was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. He was exhausted. Day in and day out he worked hard, putting out everything he had, but then when he headed in he found it difficult to sleep because of his nightmares and haunting voices that echoed throughout the night. He couldn't really remember the last time he had gotten a decent night of sleep.

His eyes grew heavy as he stood at his post and he soon found himself drifting off, but not into a nice sleep, but to his nightmare that he had had over and over for the past four years.

_Sky ran through the sandy mountainside as the wind began to pick up, the sky began to darken as rain started to pour down, violent lightning struck the ground around him causing massive sparks, enough to start a fire, rain began to pour down hard. _

"_Somebody help!" cried out Bridge. "….Sky! Nooo!" It was one of the most painful screams that he had ever heard._

"_Please don't do this," exclaimed Z, her voice was almost a whimper, much different from the strong and willful Z that everyone knew. _

"_Look out!" yelled Jack._

"_No, this can't be happening," cried Sydney. "Please Sky, we need you…" And then there was a horrifying, heart-wrenching scream from Syd and then nothing. Total silence._

_Sky tried to follow their voices, but every direction he turned no one was in sight, only smoke and fire. "Guys, where are you!" He cried out each of their names, but no answers ever came. The only sound that could be heard now was blaster shots and explosions. The planet began to shake rapidly, the ground began to crack. _

_The young cadet felt the ground shake around him, causing him to nearly lose his balance. It was only then when he noticed his bloodstained hands; he was mortified, because he couldn't for the life of him figure out how they came to be that way._

"_What happened?" He could feel his heart racing… Pounding against his chest, as images of blood and gore flashed through his mind. "NO!" he screamed, grabbing a hold of his head, wanting to force the images out of his head. "No, make it stop!" he exclaimed. "Make it stop. Make it stop!"_

"Make it stop!"

"Sky!" Kat grabbed a hold of the young Lieutenant, shaking him awake. "Wake up!" she exclaimed, hoping her voice would penetrate though his dreams.

Sky's eyes flashed open and he gasped for a breath, he could feel his heart pounding rapidly against his chest. It took him a few moments for his terrified eyes to come face to face with Kat. He felt her grip his shoulder and look him right in the eyes with such calmness. "It's okay, you're safe now," she said, hoping that her words would be able to bring some sort of peace back into him. "It was just a dream."

Though it might have just been a dream, Sky knew all too well that it was more. It had really happened. What he saw and felt in his dream had happened and no matter what he did he couldn't escape it. "No. Dreams aren't real," he sighed heavily. "This was."

"Sky, if you would just-"

"I can't!" he shouted. "…Besides, talking about it won't change what happened."

Kat sighed heavily; to this day no one was fully sure what exactly had happened that day. Certain pieces from what Sky had told them had been left out and those pieces were eating him up inside. "No, it won't,' she answered. "But it would help you move on."

"Who says I want to?"

"Sky." There was heartbreak in her voice as she started to reach out to him, to let him know that all was not lost.

"Don't," he said, as he shrugged her away. "I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity." She smiled faintly. "It's called compassion, something that you've forgotten."

"I don't-" He sighed heavily, not wanting to get into it with her. "Look, just go, I'm fine now."

"You're not fine, Sky. You haven't been fine for a long time." She sighed heavily as she left the Command Room, granting Sky's request that he just wanted to be alone.

And once again, he was alone. Alone, in the empty and still Command Room, a place that still contained the echoes of his fallen comrades. Sometimes he could still feel them there, hear their voices, as if they were trying to reach out to him, but he wouldn't listen. He couldn't.


	3. Reservation

**Authors note: **Just to be clear a few things up, just in case theres any question. This is an AU of SPD of what could have happened, if Dru had a more evil plot in wanting to take down SPD, for the most part his character is the same as it was in the show. He did come back to SPD the same way he did on the show, that's pretty much is where the AU starts. Gruumm was still defeated, but without the help of the other rangers, so that is one of the biggest differences of this AU, as is how Sky got the red morpher.

"So how have you been doing, Sky?" asked the older woman who sat across from him. "It's been almost two months since the four year anniversary, hasn't it?"

Sky found himself searching the room, looking at anything but her, in a small room that was filled with books and framed certificates on the walls, though not much had changed in the time since he had started coming here. Much like his days, that for the most part stayed the same on a daily basis.

"Schuyler?" The woman said his name again, trying to break through his thoughts. She had been seeing him for the last four years and though Sky never said much about anything to her, just bits and pieces, she had learned more from his silent demeanor than she had from any of the other patients who would talk about their feelings. The woman had learned that Sky carried a great weight on his shoulders and wasn't looking to get rid of it, no matter how painful it was for him. He pushed others away, before anything could ever come of it. She moved her head, trying to catch his eyes. "Are you with me?"

"Huh?" Sky snapped out of his thoughts and met the woman's eyes.

"You looked like you were somewhere else." She clasped her hands and leaned forward against her desk. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"Doctor Keen, I've been coming here long enough for you to know I don't really talk about my feelings." He licked his lips and raised his eyes. "In fact, the only reason I come to these sessions is because High Command requires me, in order for me to maintain my rank and place at the academy." He hated coming here; he would have thought after a year of this it would be done and over with, but years later here he was. "Look thank you for what you've been trying to do, but I'm better. Really. I don't think I need to be wasting any more of your time."

Dr. Keen looked down at the folder in front of her, then looked back up at Sky. "Your supervisor, Dr. Manx, seems to think otherwise," she said, as she searched Sky's eyes for a reaction. "She thinks you're getting worse, not better."

"Yeah. Well, she worries too much." He answered her kind of coolly, knowing that would be just like Kat to say something to her about him just so he would have to continue coming to see Dr. Keen. "Besides, she doesn't know me that well."

"According to my records, she's known you for six years." She looked him right in the eyes. "Is that not correct?"

Sky bowed his head down, sighing; knowing that six years had been about the number of years the two had known each other, and probably a lot longer given Kat's real age. He wouldn't be surprised if he had even know her as a small child, but he didn't remember all too much about his childhood. After his father had died, he had given up his childhood and only cared about one thing. "No. That's right." He bit his lip. "I…I just rather Kat wouldn't bother getting involved in my personal business."

"I see. Perhaps we should talk about something else," announced Dr. Keen. "Maybe your father? We haven't really talked about him."

"There's nothing to talk about. My father died almost twenty year ago."

_A young five year old boy sat nervously on a bench, sitting next to a young woman. Not even two minutes later two men dressed in SPD uniforms approached the two, one held a red Ranger helmet in his hands. The one carrying the helmet held it out to the young boy._

_The boy took it in his hands, staring at the helmet briefly before looking up at the man who had given it to him._

Sky licked his lips. "I barely remember him."

"There must be something you remember, you were only five."

Sky didn't answer at first, as if his mind was wandering off again. He let out a sigh. "No. Nothing. All I remember he was a Ranger and that's what I wanted to be."

"Okay, we don't have to talk about your father now." She could tell that Sky did remember something about his father, but that it was just too hard for him to think about him. "How about your mother?"

Something snapped in Sky's eyes at the mention of his mother, but he let it go, not wanting to bring anything about. "With all due respect, Dr. Keen, I'd rather not talk about her. I have nothing to say about my mother, so let's just leave it at that."

"All right, if that's how you feel."

"It is."

She read over her files briefly before locking her eyes once again with the young Lieutenant. "How do you feel about Dru Harrington? According to my reports you paid him a visit."

"So?" Sky answered harshly. "What's the big deal, I'm an SPD officer, it isn't uncommon that I'd be in the prisoners' visiting hall."

"No. But Dru isn't just any prisoner, he was not only your roommate at the time you entered into the academy, but also your friend. A friend who some years later would betray you, who nearly killed you."

"But he didn't." Sky's face began to tense up, not liking where the Doctor's questioning was headed. "Dru always was a good shot; he never misses."

"Is that why you spared him?"

Sky didn't answer, as his thoughts drifted off somewhere else, to a moment when he had to make a difficult decision, one that even to that day still haunted him.

_Sky morphed into the red Ranger suit, stood over Dru's still and battered body, kicking his former friend's gun to the side. He had really done a number on him, just punching and kicking him nonstop, until he couldn't hit anymore. Dru's body had dropped to the ground, panting heavily._

_Sky demorphed, keeping his eyes and blaster locked on Dru. His face was furious and filled with a great amount of agony. Never in his life had he thought that Dru, his best friend, the one he had once called his brother, would ever betray him. What had happened to the Dru he had known? Where had his friend gone? _

_"Do it!" shouted Dru, staring up at Sky, his former friend. "Do it! Kill me, you bastard!!" His voice was full of rage and fury. "You know you want to," he hissed. "Kill me! Because I don't want to go back to that hellhole!"_

_Sky tightened his finger around the trigger, grinding his teeth together, as Dru continued to pressure him into taking his life. He could feel his heart banging against his chest. It would be so easy. He could kill Dru and he would have finished avenging his friends' death, he would have his revenge. And at that moment he didn't care if it went against the SPD rule book; at that moment he was willing to break the rules and even go to prison for it. …But he couldn't push out the little voice in his head, telling him not to. 'Enough blood' had already been shed. Sighing heavily, Sky lowered his weapon and stepped back._

_"Wh-What are you doing?" shouted Dru, not believing that Sky was backing down. "Come on, Sky, we both know you want to."_

_"No!" Sky shook his head. He frowned slightly as he looked upon his former friend, a pitiful sight, because he could have been so much more. "A life for a life."_

_Dru just laughed. "You're such a fool, Sky. You really think that I wouldn't have killed you?" He smirked. "I was just screwing with your head."_

"Sky?" asked Dr. Keen, getting slightly concerned. She was seeing why Dr. Manx was becoming overly concerned, Sky would be there one moment and gone the next. Something which could mean life or death, if it happened while he was out on a mission.

"He was unarmed. It would have been against regulations if I shot him."

But Dr. Keen knew all too well that was mostly a lie; even though it was against regulations for an officer to shoot a unarmed man, that was not the reason why Sky hadn't shot him. She could see right through Sky. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"I'm sure I'm going to hear about it no matter what."

"I think that maybe in that split moment that you made your decision, that you looked him in the eyes and you couldn't go through with it. You had already lost four friends, you didn't want to lose another."

Sky bit his lip and crossed his arms against the chest. "…That's about the biggest load of crap I ever heard." He looked her hard in the eyes. "Dru and I aren't friends and never will be."

**Earlier That Day….**

Sky and Sam were in the shooting area practicing their shooting skills. They had been at it close to an hour, and with each round they went through Sam's skill progressed. Sky stood behind him, keeping sure that Sam's position was correct so he would maintain to have good shots.

"Not bad," commented Sky, as he watched Sam take a shot at the target, hitting the bullseye. "Won't be long until you're beating records."

"I'd say it'll be a while before that, considering someone else here holds all the records," noted Sam, as he looked over his shoulder at Sky. "I never took you for a guy who cared about having the highest records."

At first Sky didn't answer, as if he didn't know what to say to that comment. "Yeah. Well, if you're good, you're good," responded Sky, as he walked over to one of the stands to practice his shooting skills, almost as if he wanted to avoid the whole conversation.

"I guess so, but the academy records seemed to come to an end all the same month, over three years ago." Sam licked his lips. "Around the same time you were in the hospital."

"Your point?" asked Sky, as he fired his shot right on target.

"You beat all of Dru Harrington's records, even though SPD Command took them down." He watched as Sky turned to him, looking a little annoyed and shocked at the same time. "I only know because I ran across old records from a while back." Sam paused for a moment, trying to read Sky, very well knowing he might be asking for trouble prying into Sky's personal business. "….Dru was your friend, wasn't he?"

_"Come on, bro, let's show these guys some real survival skills," said Dru as he wrapped his arm around Sky's shoulder. "Like the old days."_

_"We have strict orders from Cruger not to leave Earth while he's away on a conference," exclaimed Jack._

_"Don't tell me Mr. Big Red Leader is scared of a little competition," smirked Dru, as he taunted at Jack a bit._

_"No. I'm just following Cruger's orders."_

_"Come on, Jack-"_

_"Hold on a second, you're actually considering this!" exclaimed Jack, not beginning to believe what he was hearing. "Mr. I'll never disobey an order, wants to go along with this?"_

_"It would be good for our training. And if it helps us catch Gruumm faster, Cruger won't get pissed off about that." Sky grabbed Jack's shoulder. "Besides, it might be a little fun. You're always saying I don't have enough fun."_

_"Come on Jack, you wouldn't want to deny Sky having some fun, would you?" announced Dru, as he eyed the red Ranger._

Sky turned away, looking at the target, and shot three rounds right in a row, all hitting on target. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sam," Sky announced without even turning to the teen, and walked out of the shooting range.

Sam really didn't need an answer. He had seen a picture somewhere from Sky's second year at the academy in the library and had seen a picture of him and Sky. He could tell the two were friends.

**Present….**

"I _hate_ him and I will never _forgive_ him for what he did."

Dr. Keen smiled faintly, knowing Sky's aggression and anger lay with someone else. "Are you sure that _him _is Dru?" She paused for a moment and searched his eyes. "…and not you?"

"What?" Sky exclaimed, as his eyes widened. "You're crazy, lady!" He started to get up from his chair, wanting to get out of the room and away from the conversation. "That's a bunch of bull!"

"Is it, Sky?" Dr. Keen kept her voice calm, wanting to get through to Sky and help him through his issues. "You blame yourself for what happened to your friends, don't you?" She watched as a whirlwind of emotions came over Sky's face. "Which is why you continue to go see Dru every year to remind yourself of why you hate yourself so much, and that's why you won't forgive yourself."

Sky took a deep breath, struggling to keep his composure together. "You have no idea what you're talking about." He held his hand on the doorknob and turned back to her for a brief moment. "You weren't there, so don't try to pretend like you know what I'm feeling." He licked his lips and sighed heavily. "Because I don't feel anything." Dr. Keen tried to respond, but Sky had already stepped outside the door, slamming it behind him.

* * *

"Oh hey, Sky…." Boom's voice trailed off as he watched Sky storm past him and head straight towards Kat. Sensing that a blowout was going to happen, and he didn't want to have any part of it, Boom decided to make a quick exit. "Well… I'm going to let, you two work out." He smiled. "Wh-what ever it is you need to work out. Ah, see yah."

"Boy, you really don't know when not to butt in, do you?" shouted Sky, getting right into Kat's face. He was more than a little pissed off at her for interfering in his sessions with Dr. Keen. He was furious.

"Excuse me?" Kat widened her eyes as she looked up from her work to face him.

"You, getting into my business with Dr. Keen."

Kat had known Sky would be angry, but she also knew she had to share her concerns with Dr. Keen. She couldn't share them with Cruger, not with the strain that was between him and Sky these days. Dr. Keen was the only one she could confide in, there was no one else; at least no one that Sky was on speaking terms with. And no matter what she would say, Sky wouldn't want to hear about it. She stood still, wishing things were different. "You may not care what happens to you, Sky, but some of us around here do."

Sky just shook it off. "Do me a favor and _don't_." He darted his eyes right at her. "I can take care of myself, Kat, I've been doing it since I was fifteen." He crossed his arms against his chest. "Worry about the cadets that do need you!" He hardened his face. "And just let me be."

"Do you remember what happened the last time I let you be?" She eyed him closely, not daring to back down. Dr. Kat Manx had dealt with stubborn-pigheaded-arrogant men before, so she in no way felt threatened by Sky.

_Sky had been battling non-stop for the last few hours in the simulator, training at the highest level possible, trying to break the top score of any SPD cadet. He was just a few hundred points away from breaking the record, but he could feel his body growing weary, starting to feel heavy, to the point it was getting difficult to move around. He breathed heavily as he dodged one of the simulator's creations. His body was covered in sweat and he had a few bright red marks on his face from his attackers._

"_Sky, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he heard Kat's frantic voice over the monitor. "The simulator statistics show you've been in there for over three hours."_

_Though extremely exhausted, Sky managed to block the creature ….just barely. He managed to punch it to the ground, making it shimmer away, as he waited for the next creature to approach him. "I know. I'm going to break the record, just a little longer and I'll have it." _

_Inside the diagnostic room where Kat could monitor the simulator, she quickly switched to the computer monitor that was in charge of running a diagnostic on Sky's body. A red blinking light was showing all over his body, reading danger. "Sky!" Kat yelled into the speaker. "Your readings are extremely low. Your body can't take much more. I'm ending the simulation." But when she went to end it, she was unable to get through a block that Sky had set for the simulation not to end until he completed his task. "Sky, end this simulation right now!"_

_"No!" he roared, as he took a hard kick to the stomach and nearly fell backwards. "Not until…." He punched and kicked the two creatures approaching him. "I…I beat the record." His breathing was starting to weaken and everything was starting to get blurry. Sky briefly looked up at the score. It wouldn't be much longer now._

_"Damnit Sky. If you don't get out of there now, you're going to get yourself killed!"_

_Sky struggled to keep his stance, watching as the last creature started approaching him, snarling and lashing his arms out at Sky. "If Dru was able to last this long, so can I."_

_And that's when Kat released what Sky had been doing. All week he had been pushing himself to the limit, breaking records. Dru's records, who before his betrayal held all of the academy's records. "Sky, Dru isn't human, his body could handle the pressure. Even with your ability, you're still human." _

_"I don't care." Sky did the best he could to keep his eyes locked on his attacker and then went in for one final kick. He kicked the creature hard in the gut causing it to shimmer away; a loud horn was sound alerting Sky that he had broken the record. But the young man would have no time to celebrate as his body collapsed to the ground and his head landed smack on the floor._

_Kat rushed in through the sliding door, calling his name several times over. _

"You nearly died! Not only was your body sleep deprived, but you were dehydrated. You spent the next two weeks in the hospital, most of which you weren't even awake for!" She didn't care if she was raising her voice with each word that she spoke. Kat knew that if she didn't get through to Sky, that sometime soon he wouldn't have any more fight left in him to survive. "Do you know how many times in the last four years you've been in the hospital?"

"It's a dangerous job, Kat, it comes with the territory," he snapped. "Yeah eventually, one day I may not come back. It's just one of those facts that you have got to face."

"I never said the job wasn't dangerous." She looked him hard in the eyes. "But Sky, there is a difference between having a dangerous job and going to look for danger." Sighing heavily, she walked away from him, knowing that if they kept at it that it might destroy what little of their relationship they still had left. And she knew if she lost that, there would be no way in the world that she would be able to save him.

Sky didn't respond, just turned his head away, as if some part of him knew that she was right. He was looking for the one mission that he wouldn't return from, maybe that's why he had given in to training Sam. So that when that day did come, he knew there would be someone left in his place.

Sky headed down the halls of SPD heading towards his room, but on his way there he had to pass by the common room, where he spotted Sam hanging with his friends, Luc, Matt, Brooke and Maxie. He stopped to watch the group of five friends, enjoying each other's company. And for a moment he found himself looking back to when it had been him there in that room with his friends.

"_So what should we do tonight?" asked Z as she sat down in between Bridge and Jack. "I was thinking of maybe all of us grabbing a pizza and going to see a movie." _

_"Sounds great to me," answered Syd, as she sat down on the coach across from the three next to Sky, who had his face in his book. "Mind that we get Bridge his own popcorn." Recalling the last time they left Bridge in charge of popcorn, butter was basically spilling out of the bag. _

"_I told you guys, the machine was broken and the butter just started pouring out," Bridge explained. "…Although I have to say that was some of the best popcorn I've ever had. Really buttery." _

"_You guys wouldn't mind if I asked Ally to join us, would you?" asked Jack._

"_No. I think that's a great idea," answered Z. "Besides it'll give us a chance to get to know her better."_

"_Great! I'll go call her and meet you guys at the pizza place," said Jack as he got up from the couch and headed out of the common room, to head to his room to change and call Ally about going out tonight._

"_So Sky, you going to join us this time?" exclaimed Z._

"_Yeah." Syd nudged him. "Sky, you'll miss all the fun."_

"_Sorry, but I have other plans," he answered, not even lifting an eye from the page of his book._

"_What, reading the SPD handbook for like the millionth time?" announced Z._

"_Come on Sky, you never go out with us anymore," whined Syd, as she started poking more at Sky hoping to at least get him to look up from his book. "We won't even ask you to change out of your uniform this time."_

"_Yeah. Maybe they'll give you a discount at the theater," Bridge added._

_Sky just rolled his eyes and continued to read through the handbook. "Besides, there's too much work to be done around here, especially with Gruumm and all his nutcases on the loose."_

"_All work and no play, makes Sky a real grump," Z muttered, as she got up from the couch, along with Bridge. "Fine, stay here, but don't be expecting us to bring you back any leftover pizza."_

"_Especially when Jack makes sure there are no leftovers," said Bridge as he followed Z out of the common room._

"_You sure you don't want to come?" asked Syd._

"_Yeah, I'm sure, Syd." Sky turned to her, knowing that would be the only way for him to get her to leave. "You go out and have fun."_

"_But what about you, you'll be here all alone." She smiled faintly, she really didn't like the idea of leaving him alone, knowing that all he would do is read that book over and over or do something else SPD related._

"_Don't worry. I'll be fine." He smiled, letting her know that it was okay for her to go._

"_All right." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'll try to save some pizza for you, before Jack eats it all."_

In that moment he was willing to give anything to have that be them in there, and perhaps he would even be more willing to open up to them, to show them that he really had cared about them and wanted to be their friend. Sighing heavily, Sky continued on his way, leaving the five behind.


	4. Reckoning

**Authors note: **Just to be clear a few things up, just in case theres any question. This is an AU of SPD of what could have happened, if Dru had a more evil plot in wanting to take down SPD, for the most part his character is the same as it was in the show. He did come back to SPD the same way he did on the show, that's pretty much is where the AU starts. Gruumm was still defeated, but without the help of the other rangers, so that is one of the biggest differences of this AU, as is how Sky got the red morpher.

* * *

After a long hard run, exhausted and out of breath, Sky and Sam retreated to one of the park benches to take a few minutes of rest before they would head back to the academy. They had been training for months now, with each time Sam's skills improving. Sky was watching the Omega Ranger, the Sam who had fought by his side just those few years ago, be born right before his eyes. There was no doubt in his mind now that Sam would become a Power Ranger.

Sam seemed to sense that the older man had a lot on his mind, like he was somewhere else, which was something that had happened more than once. "Do you ever think about them?" This would be the first time since the day Sky had told him the others had been killed, that he had ever brought them up. Though he hadn't known them as long, he stilled missed them and thought about them. And at times he wished he had someone to talk to about the friends he had lost long ago.

Sky didn't respond, whether he had heard the question or was just ignoring it the young teen couldn't be sure. Though he was sure that Sky did think about them, for the last four years he had practically witnessed Sky punishing himself on a daily basis, he just didn't know why. He had only been just a kid, just barely thirteen when the others had passed, left out of the loop as to what had gone on and what events took place that led to their untimely deaths. Sam watched as his friend and mentor took a deep breath before taking a swig of his water, paying no mind to a group of three girls that walked past, also appearing to be out for a jog; they had all smiled at Sky as if trying to get his attention.

The teen took a sip of his water and smiled briefly at the girls before they jogged on by, seeing that Sky was not interested, which was almost surprising considering it was no secret around the academy that Sky had had a number of women in his dorm room, usually starting with a stop at the bar first. "Not your type?" In the months they had been training together Sam was becoming more and more comfortable with Sky, to the point he wasn't afraid to ask him something, as long as it didn't go against the set of rules that Sky had set up.

"What?" Sky turned to his young friend and then half glanced over at the three women who were jogging off in the distance. "…Oh." He sighed heavily as he took another sip of his water and ran his hand around his neck. "Don't have time for a relationship in my line of work. Something you will learn one day."

"You still seem to get around though," announced Sam, knowing he might be out of line for saying that and Sky would be well within his right to whack him for it, but he wasn't some little kid. He was almost adult now. He knew about girls, sex and everything else that comes along with an adult relationship. Sky turned to him, giving an annoyed glance. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." He bit his lips. "….It's just a lot of things are said around the academy." On many occasions Sam had heard several cadets call Sky every name in the book, which was partly the reason he was keeping his training sessions with Sky on the down low, only a very few knew about that.

It would be a lie if Sky said he hadn't heard the things the cadets and officers said at the academy when they didn't think he was listening or that he was out of range of hearing what they were saying. He knew all too well what many of them thought of him, but he really couldn't care less. He just set it aside like it was nothing, much like everything else he had done over these past few years.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Depends on what you're asking," said Sky as he was hunched forward staring down at the ground.

Sam knew that perhaps he should keep his mouth shut on this one, but he had been wondering this for a number of years. Since his and Sky's time together for his training would be ending in a matter of months, as the time would come in the near future when he would be tested to see if he made the cut; he might as well, it's not like he was expecting that once his training was over that he and Sky would become close friends. Sky had already made it clear numerous times he wasn't looking to get anything out of this. "Were you and Syd ever _together_?"

"Excuse me?" Sky turned to Sam, almost frowning. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, that was the furthest thing from his mind that he thought he'd ever hear come out of Sam's mouth. "Where the hell do you get off asking that?"

"A simple yes or no would have been fine," answered Sam as he stood up, knowing that it might be a good idea for him to hightail it out of there, seeing as Sky was not at all happy about the question.

"You don't get the grace of a simple yes or no for that question," Sky exclaimed harshly. "Especially to a superior."

"You're right." Sam nodded his head. "I shouldn't have said anything," he exclaimed. "I'm just a guy who wanted to know if you felt anything towards her. It's not like it will change anything for me; once my training is complete we'll both go our separate ways."

"Why?" Sky waved his hands in frustrated anger; it didn't seem to him that Sam cared either way, so why ask the question. "Why ask then, Sam, if it doesn't matter to you, if it doesn't change anything ….Why ask?"

Sam sighed heavily; he had to wonder in that moment if he should say what he was going to say next. Could it do more harm than good? He couldn't be sure, these days Sky was a hard guy to read. But it was clear that Sky wasn't about to let him get away without an explanation; even if he teleported away sooner or later Sky would catch up to him, wanting answers. "Because," he sighed heavily as he licked his lips, "….because I think she cared about you." His face saddened. "Maybe even loved you." He bit his lip. "I don't know."

"And where would you get a crazy idea like that?" barked Sky, not liking where this was going.

"Because I overhead Syd and Z talking one night."

_Sam was headed towards the mess hall to meet up with his new friends to have ice cream, when he passed by Syd and Z's room. _

"_I saw the way you were looking at him," Z playfully gloated. "You like him, don't you?"_

_Being the curious little kid he was, Sam stuck around to see if he could find out just who the guy was that Z was so sure that Syd liked. Having just been at the academy for a few weeks, he was starting to feel like he belonged there and just loved to hear what his older friends were up to. He hadn't been able to spend much time with them, because they'd been so busy protecting the city. So, every once in a while he would eavesdrop like a little brother and listen in on their conversations. _

"_No!" Syd shrieked. "I don't like him, not like that."_

"_Right, and Bridge doesn't like taking apart his computer." Z crossed her arms against her chest, staring Syd down. "Come on Syd, admit it, you've got a thing for our stonewalled blue Ranger."_

"_All right, fine," admitted Syd. "Maybe I do like him, a little."_

"_A little?"_

_Syd sighed, knowing there was no way around Z. "Okay, maybe a lot." She gave her friend a dirty look. "Happy?"_

_Z just smiled, satisfied that she was right. "How long?"_

"_Oh, I don't know, a couple years."_

"_And you haven't done anything about it?"_

"_Have you met Sky?" Syd said sarcastically. "He's not exactly the dating type; we can barely get him to go out on group events. So I highly doubt he'll go out on a date with me." _

Sam watched for a reaction from Sky's face, but he couldn't really find one, just a blank empty look. There was no anger, no sadness, no surprise, just this big empty look, almost as if he was trying not to react to it.

"I didn't like Sydney like that. She was just a friend, nothing more." Sky rubbed the back of his neck, as he turned to meet Sam's eyes. "Look. I think I've taught you everything I can. The rest is up to you."

Sam watched as Sky got up and walked away from him, he tried calling out to him, but Sky never answered him back.

* * *

Cruger was in the Command Center going over galactic reports when Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie appeared on the screen. _"Commander Cruger, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," _announced Birdie.

"No sir, I was just going over a few minor reports," answered Cruger. "Is there something I can do for you?" Birdie wasn't the type to make transmission calls from the head base just to talk small talk, there usually was a reason.

"_I was just curious how the B-squad's training has been going and how close they are to testing for the Ranger program."_

"We should be able to begin testing in another month or so, after which the cadets who made the cut will go through an intense month's worth of training to see if they have the skills to become a Power Ranger."

"_I see." _Birdie didn't seem pleased by the answer that the process was taking longer then expected. He would have liked the Earth base to have a new team of Rangers two years ago, but none of the cadets were prepared. _"How about the boy who has the ability to teleport, Sam Gates? Will he make the cut into the program?"_

"I have looked over some of Sam's scores and they have improved in the last couple of months. He has been training with Lieutenant Tate these past few months, is my understanding."

"_Lt. Tate?" _he questioned, almost tilting his head. _"…As in Sky Tate, your lone red Ranger."_

"Yes, sir."

"_Has he gotten any better? Have we learned more about what happened that day the other Rangers were killed?"_

"No sir. Sky doesn't talk about the incident."

"_Has Dr. Keen said anything about his condition?"_

"She says he won't talk to her about it."

"_I see. Have you tried talking to him? You did know his father fairly well."_

That was part of the reason it made things so difficult for him and Sky, because he had known Sky's father. He had been a great man, one he'd always highly respected and owed a great amount of gratitude for his work at the academy. After he had been killed Cruger had promised himself that he would look after Sky when he joined the academy, but things don't always work out the way you plan on them to. "Sky and I were never that close, our relationship is only on a professional level."

"_I see."_

Cruger could tell that his superior was not at all pleased by this. "Is there a problem, sir?" he announced almost harshly.

"_I'm beginning to become concerned about the stability of Lt. Tate, that his behavior is reckless at times, when he loses all control. I have even heard that he's been erotic within the academy's doors." _Birdie crossed his arms against his chest. _"Care to elaborate, Commander?"_

"Lt. Tate is old enough to engage in such things; perhaps having it happen in the academy is unprofessional on his part."

"_Quite. But I am more concerned with it happening between him and another cadet."_

"I can assure you that none of the girls have been associated with the academy."

"_Good. Keep it that way. The last thing the academy and SPD needs is any trouble, giving future prospects a bad idea." _And he was being very serious; he did not want any trouble from Lt. Tate. He didn't care how good he was at his job or what accomplishments he had made for the academy. _"He may be his father's son, but that does not mean he'll be given any special treatment. If I continue to see any more concerns or complaints regarding Lt. Tate_, _I may be left with no choice but to ask him to leave SPD." _He eyed Cruger through the monitor. _"I do not need another reoccurrence of what happened to Mirloc and Wootox on my hands again. I had the Intergalactic Alien Alliance on my back for six months after Lt. Tate's so called actions!" _His voice was harsh._ "Is that understood, Commander?"_

"Yes sir."

"_Good. I will leave you to your work then."_ With those final words Birdie ended the connection and Cruger was left with a blank screen.

"He's right, you know," announced Kat, as she stepped towards Cruger. She didn't like the fact that Birdie was right, but deep down she knew he had made some very good points. "One day something could happen and it won't be with some random girl." Kat knew she had done every possible thing that she could do, but nothing worked. She couldn't get through to him. "He won't listen to me, Doggie."

"And what makes you think he'll listen to me?" he questioned her. "You've said it yourself, he's reckless; his mood changes from one moment to the next."

"So, what, you've given up on him?" she exclaimed.

"If you'll excuse me, I have an important meeting to attend with the C-Squad." Cruger didn't even respond when Kat called out his name. He had nothing more to say to her on the Sky subject, he just no longer knew how to deal with that subject.

Kat could do nothing but watch as Doggie left the Command Center. For years she had tried getting both Doggie and Sky to talk to each other, fought with all her might, but now she was fearing that she might have fought all she could. They were two of the most stubborn people she had ever met and neither one liked admitting they needed help.

"Kat, are you okay?" asked Boom as he walked into the room. He had seen with his own eyes what this had done to Kat, to everyone. And it broke his heart, because it no longer felt like home anymore. To this day he could still see the look in Sky's eyes when he told him about Dru.

"_Sky, are you okay?" he asked, seeing Sky's uniform covered in blood. "Kat and I saw the planet explode on the monitor, we saw your ship just barely escaping."_

_Sky was frantic. "I have to find him. I need to find Dru…."_

"_Dru?" Boom's eyes widened._

"_I need to make sure he got out okay. I saw his ship…" Sky clutched his chest, which was badly bruised. "The others… I have to make sure, he's-"_

"_Sky…" Boom licked his lips. "Kat and I watched the whole thing; Dru's the one responsible for the planet's destruction. We even have surveillance of him freeing Mirloc and Wootox hours before you even left for the planet, we think that…."_

"_WHAT!" Sky's voice roared. He shook his head, not wanting to believe it. "No. No, I don't believe you. Dru…. He would never..." Sky angrily pushed past Boom and ran down the halls._

"_Oh no." Painfully Boom turned to watch as Sky flew down the halls, on the hunt to find Dru. "He didn't know."_

It would be a moment in his life that he would never be able to shake off, never be able to forget. It would be the moment when he had crushed whatever belief Sky ever held about Dru.

"I've tried everything I could think of, but nothing works." She sighed heavily, as she turned to meet Boom's eyes, her faithful friend. "And Birdie breathing down Cruger's neck about Sky's behavior doesn't help matters." She continued to ramble on. "I just don't know how Birdie knew about Sky and the girls he brings to his room."

Boom sighed heavily. "Gossip travels fast; it's not like it's a secret or anything." Even Boom himself knew: a guy who doesn't really get out much, he knew for the most part about what Sky had been doing. "And then there are those here that probably would love just to get Sky kicked out of the academy."

"Yeah." Kat sighed heavily, knowing Boom was right, there was a large age range here, teens mixed with young adults, gossip was just part of the culture, people loved to spread it and make it more than what it was. And it wasn't like Sky was trying to make friends, most people were intimidated by him.

* * *

Sam lay on his bed listening to music, alone in his dorm room that he shared with Matt, who was off visiting with his parents. It was parent's day at the academy, when the cadet's families would come and visit. The young cadets would show the parents around the academy, show them how they had improved on their scores and how close they were to graduating and reaching the level of becoming an officer, after which they would go and have dinner in the mess hall.

It had always been a day when Sam would for the most part stay in his room. He had no parents, when the Rangers had found him he was an orphan going from one foster family to the next. He didn't really remember his parents, all he knew was his mother had died when he was three and his father was no good, an abusive drunk, for all he knew his dad was either dead or some bum on the street. Matt had asked him if he wanted to hang out with him and his parents, but just as the years before Sam declined the offer, not wanting to intrude. He knew he could go and find Sky, but after what had happened between them a couple of days ago and what Sky had said, he knew he needed to give Sky some space.

"Hey Sammy, how 'bout you get off your ass and the two of us hit the waves?" Luc leaned against the wall, smirking slightly. "Maybe find a couple of girls to hang out with us."

Sam pulled off his headphone and sat up on his bed. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with your mother? You haven't seen her in a couple of years."

"She couldn't make it; something came up at the base."

"Sorry. I know you were looking forward to showing her how've you improved."

"Hey don't worry about it," answered Luc, brushing it off like it didn't matter. "It's part of the life of having a parent in the military. I practically spent my whole life growing up on military bases."

"Right. I forgot."

"So about those jet skis?"

"Sure, sounds like fun."

"All right then. Gear up and I'll meet you back here in a half hour."

* * *

He had woken in the middle of the night with his heart racing, pounding hard against his chest to the point where it was almost painful. Hoping that a small stroll through the academy halls would relieve some of his tension, Sky decided to head towards the men's restroom. He splashed water on his face and stared into the mirror, looking back at himself, but not himself. The image in the mirror was the same man he had seen for the last four years. Only the man was a monster, one he had not been able to rid himself of. "It's your fault they're dead. You're the one who killed them, Sky," it taunted back at him. It was almost as if he was living his nightmare while he was awake. No matter what he did or where he might go, he could not escape his nightmare.

"Shut up!" Sky clenched his fists together. "Just shut up!"

"You're really pathetic, you know. You don't even deserve to be called a Ranger." It laughed back at him, mocking Sky.

"Shut the hell up!" Sky roared into the mirror. "I didn't kill them… I didn't kill my friends!"

"Oh, but you did." The mirror image of him smirked right back at him, in an almost haunting way. "Can't you hear their screams, begging you to stop?"

A look of terror crossed Sky's face; he felt a shiver go down his back as he heard his friends screaming his name, but only it wasn't to call for help, it was for him to stop. Quick images flashed through his mind….

_Sky started approaching an injured Bridge who was backed up against a tree; blood covered the green Ranger's face and through his blood drenched uniform, bones could be seen sticking out. "Somebody help!" cried out Bridge. "….Sky! Nooo!" He coughed out blood, as he waved his hand in front of Sky._

_Sky drew out his blaster and pointed it at Bridge. "It's game over, greenie." _

"No!" Sky shouted, as he grabbed a hold of his head trying to force the deadly image out of his mind, but more images continued to flash before him.

"_Please don't do this," exclaimed Z, her voice almost a whimper. "This isn't you, Sky."_

"_It's the new and improved me." He stood over her limp and battered body. "It's lights out for you, sweetie." He fired three shots in a row, each one louder then the next. Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Please make it stop!" Sky begged, as he continued to struggle with the flashing images.

"I'm not the one who's doing this," hissed the mirror image of himself. "You are."

"_Look out!" yelled Jack, shoving Sky and himself to the ground as a tree limb was about to fall on top of them._

"_Thanks." But then something more sinister flashed inside Sky's eyes, a look that could send chills down your spine. "But you're going to wish that limb had hit me."_

"_What?" But before Jack had a chance to react, Sky had grabbed a hold of his throat, choking him to death. He could hear the others calling out his name, asking Sky to stop. "Wh-what's gotten into you," Jack gasped. "You're not yourself."_

"_Nothing that you'll have to worry your pretty little face about." Sky bent down and whispered something into Jack's ear. He watched as Jack's face lit up in fear, as the red Ranger struggled to get himself free. _

"_Guys-" but before Jack could say anything else, Sky covered up his mouth, preventing Jack from saying another word._

"_I'll be sure to take good care of them, Jack." Sky grabbed the red morpher from Jack's belt. "Now, any last words before I blow your brains out?_

_Jack struggled to get free, trying to do anything, but Sky was just too powerful for him to handle._

But the images didn't end there. There was still one more to go, this one just as horrific as the others, but maybe even more heartbreaking, a stab through the heart. Sky was now on the floor, hands to his head. He cried out painfully, not wanting to watch.

"_No, this can't be happening," cried Sydney. "Please Sky, we need you…" _

"_Shut up, you bitch!" Sky slapped her across the face, so hard her body dropped to the ground like a rag doll, her head smacking onto a rock. She screamed out painfully as tears ran down her cheeks, as she stared at the man hovering over her._

_Then there was total darkness. Nothingness. Just a big empty blank. Sky lay on the ground alone, no one around him. His hands and tattered uniform were covered in blood, a large cut on his head. He felt something nudging at him, trying to wake him up…._

Sky lay on the restroom floor unconscious with RIC at his side, nudging the red Ranger with its nose, trying to wake him up. The faithful robotic K9 whimpered slightly, trying to wake his human companion up, and even squirted him a bit with water from his mouth.

"Huh…" Sky slowly opened his eyes to find RIC staring right back at his face, tilting his head slightly, as if he were showing concern. "RIC?" Sky pushed himself into a sitting position and remained like that for a few moments longer. "What are you doing here?" RIC moved closer to Sky and rested his head on the red Ranger's knee, whimpering. "'Cause I'm fine, you know. It's not like I need you or anything." He watched as RIC continued to look up at him, all puppy faced. "I'm not Bridge." Sky pushed himself up from the ground and for a moment he briefly looked in the mirror, as if he were checking to see if the dark shadow that had been following him everywhere was still there, but all he found was a man full of emptiness who no longer cared about anything. "See you around, RIC."

RIC watched as Sky opened the restroom door and left. The K9 robotic dog hung his head and tail low as he too exited the restroom, only to wander the SPD halls alone.


	5. Scars

**Authors note: **Just to be clear a few things up, just in case theres any question. This is an AU of SPD of what could have happened, if Dru had a more evil plot in wanting to take down SPD, for the most part his character is the same as it was in the show. He did come back to SPD the same way he did on the show, that's pretty much is where the AU starts. Gruumm was still defeated, but without the help of the other rangers, so that is one of the biggest differences of this AU, as is how Sky got the red morpher.

* * *

It was nearing morning as Sky tossed and turned violently in his sleep, causing the sheets of his bed to fall to the floor. His face showed emotions of aggression, hatred and pain. His hands clenched together to form fists and his breathing began to be heavy.

His door swished open and in walked Sam. Ever since Sky had told him there was nothing left to teach him, he hadn't seen much of Sky around the academy for the last month. He had heard that Sky had been working overtime patrolling the streets, bringing in the bad guys and had even gotten a couple of drug busts under his belt. Though it had hurt him that Sky had been avoiding him, he had known right from the beginning that it was not something that would last. It wasn't like he was all alone in the academy; he had his friends, people he knew he could count on to be there.

In his hands he carried a folded clean uniform that he had seen hanging up in the laundry room when he dropped off some of his clothes to be cleaned. Since he would pass by Sky's room on the way back to his, he decided he would drop off the uniform, it would at least give him a reason to check in on him. He set it on Sky's dresser and slowly walked over to the young Lieutenant, seeing him in some sort of distress. Figuring he was having a nightmare the teen walked up to Sky's bed; reaching out he tapped him on the shoulder. "Sky, wake up," he announced. "You're having a nightmare." When his first attempt failed, the cadet grabbed the shoulder and started shaking it, trying to break through the nightmare to wake Sky up. "Sky, wake up!"

"DIE!" Sky's voice roared as he jerked awake, arms flying as he grabbed a hold of the cadet, causing both of them to fall to the floor. Sky was on top, getting ready to punch the teen in the face. His heart started racing fast and a look of terror ran across both their faces. "…Oh God," he gasped, as he quickly got off the teen and backed up against his bed. "Sam…. I-I'm sorry." Sky was mortified, as he ran his hand over his face. "I-"

Sam slowly sat himself up. He knew that Sky hadn't meant to attack him, that it had just been because of the state of his mind, still connected to his nightmare. "It's okay. I should know better than to wake someone up from a nightmare." He hoped that would be enough to ease off at least some of the agony on Sky's face, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. "Are you okay, Sky?" he asked, as he pushed himself up to his feet. "Because I'm all right. Really. No harm done."

Sky didn't answer at first, as if he was unsure of his own words. "Yeah." He licked his lips. "I'm fine. Just a dream," he answered, as he pushed himself up to his feet, running his hand over his face.

Sam didn't quite buy Sky's words that he was fine, his words may have said he was fine, but his face told another story of sleepless nights and a nightmare he couldn't escape. "Are you sure? Because you look like hell."

Sky didn't like where this was going. It was bad enough he had everyone else on his back, he didn't need to be having Sam questioning him. "Look, thanks for dropping off my uniform, but I don't need you to be checking in on me." He had regained his composure and once again put up his wall. "And as I recall, we had an agreement that you were to never question me."

Sam knew what Sky was doing and a couple of years ago he might have let something like this slide by, but he wasn't some kid anymore. "We did," he exclaimed, as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Back when you were training me, and since you're no longer doing that the rule doesn't apply."

"You ungrateful-"

"You know…" Sam just shook his head disappointedly; for years he had watched as Sky dug himself deep and deeper into a pit, and for years he had tried to pull him out of it, but he had to come to realize that he couldn't pull Sky out. He didn't want to be pulled out. "I've tried to help you through this, but you won't let me."

"I didn't ask for your help, Sam!" Sky announced harshly. "I didn't even want to train you in the first place."

"Then why did you?" he questioned Sky, as he looked him directly in the eyes, but Sky never gave him an answer. "I'm not that defenseless little Sam you rescued all those years ago, so don't treat me that way." He sighed heavily; he really did hate the way things were with them. "I hear things. I know things about that day. I've seen that same scared look in your eyes every day since it happened, but you won't talk about it. You say you think about them, but you don't talk about them."

"What the hell kind of difference does it make to you, whether I talk about them or not?"

"You weren't the only one that lost someone that day, Sky!" exclaimed Sam. "They were my friends too!" All these years he had held it all back because he didn't want to upset Sky, but he couldn't hold it back anymore, he needed to be heard. "And every time I've tried to get close to you, you've pushed me away. And yeah, I know you said you weren't looking for a partner, but what about a friend?" Sam sighed heavily, as he ran his hand around his neck. "It's like you want me to blame you for their deaths."

"That's because you should, Sam, you should blame me." He glared the teen in the eyes, as he grabbed a towel that was hanging over his chair before he exited out of his room, leaving Sam behind. Sky stormed down the halls of the academy heading towards the men's bathroom to take his shower, before he would head out on the streets to do his patrolling.

"Was that really necessary?"

Sky stopped dead in the tracks, feeling her shadow behind him; the tone in her voice told him that she wasn't very happy, but he really didn't care. These days, no one was really happy with him. He turned to face Kat. "I'm guessing you heard me with Sam."

"He just wants to be part of your life, Sky."

"He's better off without me," answered Sky harshly. "He doesn't need me."

Kat looked at him sympathetically, because he was a sad and broken man who had been miserable for a long time. "You're right, he doesn't need you. Sam has gotten along just fine without you." She licked her lips. "But did you ever think that maybe, it's you that needs him, but just like everyone else in your life you pushed him away."

"Things are just better off that way. It makes things a whole lot easier."

"What?" Kat questioned him, as she crossed her arms against her chest. "It makes your job easier?" Kat sighed heavily, as she looked into his blue eyes that were full of hurt that hadn't been let go of. "What happens when you no longer have your job, Sky? What then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Birdie has been on Cruger's case concerning you and your erratic behavior." Maybe she was out of line for informing Sky about the situation, but at the same time she felt he deserved a warning of what could happen. She didn't even want to think about what would happen to Sky if he no longer had SPD.

"If that old bird has such a damn problem with me, then he should come here and say it to my face!"

"If you're not careful that may just happen!" she exclaimed as she darted her eyes right at him. "And that scares the hell out of you."

"You must have your whiskers crossed, because your senses are way off."

"You may not admit it, Sky, but losing your place here at the academy is the one thing that does scare you. Because you know if you lose this, there will be nothing left for you." She knew she was being harsh, but it needed to come out; maybe it would help for Sky to finally once and for all let go of his pain that he had been holding in for so long. "Your friends are gone, Dru's in jail for life, you left home years ago, and you've pushed everyone else away. SPD is all you have left."

Sky tightened up his face, gaining control of his emotions and refused to let anything but anger out. "You don't know what you're talking about." He turned away and walked away from her, not wanting to admit she was right. This place, his career as a Ranger, it was the _only_ thing he had left. Everything else had been taken from him.

* * *

After a long hot shower and a quick breakfast Sky was out patrolling the streets as he sped around on his bike. A few hours had passed with no action, so he decided to take a short break and go for a walk.

He walked around the plaza, feeling the wind against his face and the hot warm sun shine down on him. He didn't notice the people around him, some enjoying the nice warm day as they too were out for a walk, while other were out shopping and running errands. It was as if he was lost in a trance as he walked through, going only where his legs would take him and before he knew it he came to a full stop.

It was the center area of the plaza, a large fountain in the middle. He could feel his heart begin to race as if the very place frightened him, but no, it was more than that. Why of all the places in Newtech City had he ended up here? Were his body and mind playing some kind of cruel joke on him? Had he not lived this _place_ enough in his nightmare? He could still see their hideous and cold faces. Hear their taunting voices and cruel laughs.

"You!" exclaimed a young woman with dark black hair and bright blue eyes, who spotted Sky from a few feet away, breaking him out of his trance.

"Oh crap," he muttered under his breath, as the woman came towards him. He knew right away it had to be one of the girls he had been with, he wasn't exactly sure when it was, but only a few women would be bold enough to approach him in such a way that showed they meant business. And the way this woman was after him, he was sure things hadn't ended well between them. Then again things never ended well with any of them. "Um….Ah look…." he started, as he tried to come up with a name to call her, but no name ever came to him, because in his drunken stupidity he never asked for any of their names.

"Come on, I want to hear it!" she exclaimed, not caring if she was making a scene. She might have put that one night of the biggest mistake of her life behind her years ago, but the black haired woman wanted to give the man before her a little piece of her mind, maybe a little humiliation of his own. She got right into his face. "Come on, say my name!"

"I, ah..." Sky uttered, feeling the eyes on him making him slightly uncomfortable. For a brief moment he wished he wasn't in his SPD uniform. Then he looked the woman in the eyes, sighing heavily. "I don't know."

"Yeah, that's right." The woman shook her head as she backed Sky up against the fountain. She looked him hard in the eyes, letting him know how disgusted she was with him. "You don't know. You don't know anything," she hissed. Sky stood still, not saying another word, as the woman continued on. "To think they allow a guy like you to protect our city is beyond my belief."

Sky sighed heavily. "I know it won't change anything, but I am sorry."

"You're sorry!" she exclaimed. She just shook her head. "It's too late!" She then shoved him into the fountain and stormed off, hoping to once again put him behind her once and for all.

Sky pulled himself out of the fountain and brushed a hand through his now soaking wet hair. He darted his eyes up at a few of the people giggling who were watching them. He returned their long gaze with one of his own causing them to go on their merry way.

"Old girlfriend of yours?"

He recognized the voice right away; it was an annoying sort of cocky voice he would never be able to forget. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a little irritated. He wasn't really in the mood to get into it with anyone, especially when he was soaking wet. "Up to your old ways again, scamming people?"

"If you must know, I was out running errands for Ally," Piggy exclaimed, getting a little snooty, not liking Sky's tone. Sure, he'd done some questionable things in his life, but that was in the past. The rest of SPD had pardoned him, thanks for his cooperation in bringing down Gruumm, but not Sky Tate. Though Piggy was certain Sky's hostility towards him had to do with something else.

"Great." Sky sort of mocked Piggy, giving him a smug smile. "You know, I still don't get how a scumbag like you decided to become Mr. Helpful Generosity Guy."

"I wasn't keen on the whole world domination thing, especially when I just got a new mudcream-smoothie-machine in." Piggy then sarcastically added, "That would have been very damaging to my business."

"Smartass," Sky muttered.

"Why thank you, I'll take that as a compliment from you."

"You would."

"So…." Piggy announced, as he ignored Sky's last comment. He sat himself down on the fountain, setting his bags on the ground. "This is where it happened?"

"Ally told you about it?" There were only a very select few that knew what had happened here, all those years ago. It had been so bad that Cruger had done all he could to keep as much of it out of the news as possible, so that it would not give SPD a bad name. Already he could see it all playing over right in front of him, one of the darkest moments of his life played out. The day when everything that mattered ended, it was the day when the lights had gone out for him.

_After his confrontation with Dru in the academy, learning about his best friend's betrayal, Sky had gone after him, tracking him through the city of screaming civilians running to safety. He had disobeyed Kat's order not to go due to his condition, and Cruger was still on his way back from his conference._

_The once blue Ranger, now suddenly red Ranger, had tracked Dru along with his two accomplices downtown in the plaza. He got into a fighting stance, not caring how battered his appearance looked. Only one thing mattered now, making them pay for what had happened. "It's the end of the road!" Sky exclaimed. "You will pay for what you have done!"_

_"Hmmm. I seem to remember you father utter those same words, right before I killed him, all those years ago," mocked Mirloc, hoping to toy some with Sky's emotions. To twist and turn everything around brought pure joy to him._

_"I will make you pay for that too!" _

_"I'd like to see you try," taunted Mirloc; he was in no way scared of the young man before him because fifteen years before he had succeeded in ending the life of his father._

_"You won't last long enough to arrest us!" exclaimed Wootox, laughing loudly._

_"I'm not planning on arresting you!" Sky darted his eyes at the two. "Once I'm through there will be nothing left. They'll have to scrape your bodies off the floor."_

Sky found his hand brushing against the edge of the fountain. He didn't even meet Piggy's eyes. He had gone against everything he stood for. But he didn't care about the rules. The only thing he cared about was making them pay. To this day he could still see it in his mind, feeling every blow and tasting every stench of blood.

_Morphed into the red Ranger suit, Sky found himself cornering Mirloc, with no way to go. The purple murderer was beyond being terrified; his body was battered and broken. His eyes showed signs of defeat. "All right. All right!" Mirloc raised his arms up, as if to surrender himself. "You win. I'll go in quietly."_

_Sky didn't stand down or lower his sword. "No," he hissed, shaking his head. "You won't be going back."_

_"What!" Mirloc looked at Sky, shaken beyond belief. "You can't be serious. You would kill me?"_

_Sky didn't answer, he just plunged his sword right into Mirloc, blood splattering everywhere. He continued to hold it there until he saw the light go out in his eyes. "That was for my father!" he exclaimed as he pulled his sword out of Mirloc, and watched as the once most feared creature throughout the universe fall to the ground._

_The red Ranger turned to meet Dru and Wootox, who were in shock over what had happened. Neither one had ever thought Sky would have it in him to go against the rule book. Wootox felt his heart racing when he saw Sky turn to him and starting to approach him. Wootox held his shoulders tightly as he backed away, trying to get away. "Now, now, you wouldn't want to do anything that you'll end up regretting."_

_"I won't regret this." Sky held his sword tightly, almost as if he hated Wootox more than he had hated Mirloc. "I will remember this moment for the rest of my life." He kicked Wootox hard in the gut, sending the alien to the ground, unable to move. "Because of you, this day is imprinted in my mind." He stood over him holding his sword above Wootox. "I'm going to make damn sure that you can never do that to anyone ever again!"_

_"You do this and you'll be no better than me!" Wootox hissed, as he glared up at Sky. "You'll become the very thing you hate."_

_"You already took care of that for me," hissed Sky, as he stabbed his sword right into Wootox's heart. And just as he watched the life go out of Mirloc, he watched as the life went out of Wootox. He stood there for a few seconds staring down at the lifeless face and unmoving body. _

To this day, he was unsure if he regretted his actions. He had willingly taken their lives. He hadn't even blinked or questioned it, not until it came down to Dru, who had wanted him to kill him, but he hadn't. He sighed heavily, but even so, part of what Wootox had said had come true. He had become the one thing he hated.

"I don't blame her, you know." He licked his lips, as he turned to Piggy. "After everything I did…" He acted as though he was going to say more, but nothing else was said. Sky got up and started to walk away, still dripping wet, but he stopped and briefly looked over his shoulder. "Don't think this changes anything. I still don't like you."

"The feeling's mutual," answered Piggy, as he watched Sky disappear into the crowd of people.

* * *

Kat was in the lab putting the last finishing touches on the new morphers when Cruger walked in. "How goes the progress, Dr. Manx? Will the morphers be completed in time for when it's announced which of the B squad members will make it into the Ranger track program?"

"Probably not until a month or so afterwards; these morphers are more high tech than the last ones, a much higher level of weaponry and shield powers," answered Kat. "More than likely it won't be until the day of the anniversary."

Cruger frowned, not for the delay in the morphers, that was to be expected, but more that the anniversary of that day was just around the corner. "Hard to believe that it's almost been five years." It didn't really seem that long ago, some days it felt like it was yesterday or even a week ago. But it had been that long, almost a lifetime ago. Things with him and Sky had gotten worse. He hadn't meant for things to happen that way, but they had, and now he felt like he couldn't go back to the way things were. Even his relationship with Kat had become strained and at times it seemed almost a struggle to hold on.

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

Wanting to shift the conversation to something less depressing, Cruger wanted to discuss more about the new morphers. "So the Omega morpher is one of the ones you have been working on?"

"Yes. That, along with the Nova morpher. I'm basing these new morphers off of concepts of stars and astronomy." After having Sam come from a future that no longer existed, and then meeting his partner Nova, she had begun designing the new morphers which had taken her over three years to complete.

"And the other three?" asked Cruger.

"Magma, Metallic, and Astro." It made her wonder, if the other three had ever existed in the future where Sam had come from. He had never mentioned there being any other rangers, not even Nova. They probably would not have known about her if she hadn't shown up to bring Sam home. Had they been killed or had the morphers just never been completed and they hadn't existed at all? She had no way of knowing for sure.

It wasn't like she could just go up to the Sam of this time and ask him. With the future now changed, it wasn't even clear if the Sam of this time would still become the Omega Ranger; maybe he would be a different one or maybe not one at all. She would go all day wondering about it. Sure, her intentions when creating and designing the morpher had always been for it to be used by Sam, just as she was sure her old future-self had intended it to be. But then things had been different, there had been a need for Sam as a Ranger; which also left the question as to who the Nova Ranger had been. She hadn't told them her name, never really said much of anything. Was she even at the academy now? Was she one of the B squad cadets? Or would it be given to someone new? Kat didn't know for sure, only that they would be given to five young cadets who would carry on the tradition of being Power Rangers, just like those who had come before them.

"Good. I like the sound of those. It almost reminds me of home."

* * *

Piggy slowly walked into the Samuels Clothing store carrying a few bags with him, where he found Ally working at the counter. He started to head into the back room as if he was trying to sneak on by without being noticed, but he wouldn't be able to get away that easily.

"What kept you?" asked Ally, not even looking up from the papers she was looking over, checking over the sales of the weeks before. "I sent you on those errands over an hour ago."

Piggy knew well enough that Ally would not be pleased that the reason he had been running late had to do with Sky. In fact the young red Ranger's name was never mentioned once during those two years out of the country, at least until they came back home to Newtech City, which caused old wounds to once again be opened. Though he didn't know every detail that had gone on between them, he knew enough. And he had enough sense to know it was none of his business to get involved in the two's personal problems with each other, but in the pit of his stomach he felt as though he needed to say something about it. Maybe he had just been around humans for far too long, that he was starting to feel like one. "I ah… I ran into a mutual friend of ours."

"Really?" Ally looked up from her paperwork. "Who?" Besides clients there were very few people the two hung with that they both knew well enough to call a mutual friend. Piggy had a rather odd group of friends, typically ones who made it a tradition to eat the most disgusting things possible.

"I'd rather not say. I wouldn't want to sour that pretty little face of yours." Piggy could see her staring back at him and the one thing he couldn't handle was someone's eyes staring right at him; it was enough to send shivers down his spine. "Okay. Okay. I ran into Sky. Happy?" He let out a sigh of relief as he ran his hand over his forehead. "That was easier than I thought it would be. Glad I got it off my chest." He gave Ally a faint smile. "So is there anything that you need me to do around the store? I know, I can go though the garbage again, I saw some old banana peels a couple days ago."

"Hold it!" Ally exclaimed, before Piggy could take another step. "You were late coming back to the store because of Sky?" she questioned him. "What exactly did you guys talk about?" She thought about it for a minute and held up her hand to stop Piggy from answering her question. "You know, I don't want to know."

"We're not buddies or anything, I can assure you of that. We disgust each other."

Ally frowned. "Don't you usually like things that are disgusting?"

"Yes." He thought about it for a moment. "Wait." Now he was confused. "What was the question again?"

"Look Piggy, we've been over this before, I don't like discussing anything involving Sky, so let's just leave it at that."

"Yes. But…. He was so... depressing," he started to say just as the phone began to ring. "An eyesore to look at and I normally like that sort of thing-"

"PIGGY! Enough!" Ally looked at him hard, telling him to drop the whole subject before she answered the phone. "Hello? ….Oh hey, cuz. ….How are things? …..Good. …Yeah, things are fine here. ….He's doing just fine, thanks for asking…" Ally looked over at Piggy and briefly put the phone down partway. "Piggy, watch the counter for a moment."

"Sure thing, Ally," Piggy answered, as he walked around the counter while Ally headed towards the back room to finish her phone call.

* * *

Sky was still a little damp by the time he made it back to the academy, where he nearly bumped into Commander Cruger. "Oh…" He stepped back a little. "Sorry, sir, I wasn't watching where I was going." In fact his mind had been elsewhere, thinking about the incident with the woman in the plaza, on how he had messed things up so badly for Ally, along with several other women.

"That's quiet all right, Lt. Tate," Cruger answered, keeping things very professional between him and Sky, as he had for almost five years. It really had been a while since the two were this close to each other; normally they talked from a good few feet away or on intercom.

A few more moments passed of the two just staring at each other in awkward silence. It was like they were strangers and didn't know what to say to each other. That was when Cruger noticed the fact that Sky was wet, uniform and all. "Was it raining outside?"

"No sir. Clear sky."

"Then why are you wet?" he questioned the young man, curious as to why he was all wet.

"Rather not say, sir." He licked his lips as he met Cruger's eyes. "If you don't mind."

"Very well." Cruger nodded his head and stepped aside, allowing Sky to go on his way. "It was good talking with you."

"Yeah," Sky answered, as he looked over his shoulder. "You too."


	6. Look Back

"Okay guys, this is the last run you will have in the simulator. Commander Cruger will be going over the results tonight and will make the final decision next week," announced Kat through the intercom of the simulation control room. It would be then when it would be announced which B squad team would be selected. There were at least ten squads of five, only one team which be chosen to be the next Rangers, to test out never before used morphers.

"All right, team, let's show the commander what we can do!" announced Luc, getting into his leader mode. He nodded to Sam. "Sammy, you're with me; we'll handle this group."

"You got it!" Sam joined Luc, getting into a fighting stance, waiting for the simulation creations to appear.

Luc looked over at the girls, who were back to back with each other. "Ladies, try not to break a nail."

"Hey, worry about yourself, flyboy!" exclaimed Maxie, as she prepared her weapon. She patted Brooke on her shoulder. "Let's show them what girl power is all about."

"Sounds good to me," announced Brooke.

"Matt, try to save some of the fun for the rest of us."

"Roger that, squad leader." Matt locked his eyes on a form appearing before him. Once it was fully formed he jumped in midair, using his sword, and slashed the creature, causing it to shimmer away. "Let the games begin!"

Kat watched closely from the control room, making sure that nothing went wrong with the five cadets while they were in simulation mode. She needed to keep a close watch on their readings and heart rate; in years past some cadets had not been fully fit to withstand the extremes of the simulator. She looked over her shoulder when she heard the doors swish open to reveal Sky. "Hey, you're just in time to watch the last group before Commander Cruger makes his decision."

Sky walked up behind her to watch the group of cadets through the viewing windows, though he already suspected that Cruger had chosen the group months ago. He had overseen several of the B-squad cadets and these five had shown the most promise, even Sam before he had begun training him. "Sam has really improved," Kat said as she turned to him. "He owes that to you."

The young red Ranger watched as Sam and Luc double-teamed a group of three simulator creatures, Luc using his quick and sharp shooting skills and Sam throwing the creature off with his swift disappearing act thanks to his teleportation ability. "He doesn't owe anything to me. Being a Ranger is hard business, lots of work with high risks. Anything can happen."

"But thanks to you, he's prepared for it." Kat smiled faintly at Sky as she gripped his shoulder. "They're always going to be risks, Sky, no matter what any of us do in life."

He shrugged her hand off of him. "Well, here they're higher," he answered back, as he looked her hard in the eyes. "You and I both know that." Ever since he was a young boy he had known that being a Ranger comes with many risks, including that you may not come back alive.

"We both know that Sam has it in him, he survived-"

"That was before we changed things!" To Sky, that Sam who had fought by his side those months - all those years - ago no longer existed, not even in the Sam who was fighting in the simulator as he stood there. "The Sam we knew who was a Ranger doesn't exist. Not anymore."

"He may not exactly fully be that Sam, but there is a part of him that is," Kat answered back as she licked her lips, sighing heavily. "You just don't want to see it because if you did, then you'd know you're supposed to fight along with him, because that's what _he_ had wanted."

"I got to get going." Sky turned away and started towards the door. "I told Commander Cruger that I'd lead the C-squad through the course today."

"Sky-"

"Don't, Kat." Sky sighed heavily. "Just don't. I know what you are going to say, but it won't change anything."

All Kat could do was watch as he exited the control room, a part of her knowing he was right. There was nothing in the world she could say, no matter how much she wished she could.

* * *

That night Cruger went over the results from the ten B squad cadet teams. There really was no question in his mind of which team had earned the right to become the next team of Power Rangers. They had worked out and each brought something to the team, much like the team before them had ….or would have. If their time hadn't been cut short, he knew they would have ended up being the best team of Rangers he had ever had the privilege of knowing.

He had known each and every one of their parents, even Jack's and Z's parents. Jack's parents had disappeared long ago in an exotic jungle while they were away on a mission, helping villages, providing food. They were only supposed to be gone for six months, but during their last month they had gone deep into the jungle and never returned. Jack hadn't gone with them, but when word got out his parents were presumed dead, he took off from the friend's house where he had been staying, so that he wouldn't be taken into foster care. He had been living on the streets since he was fourteen and somehow managed to survive by stealing food and clothes when he needed it.

Z had a similar situation, only her parents had been killed in a car accident; she was the only one who survived. After Cruger had heard about the accident he had tried to get her sent to the academy, but before all the paperwork could be filled out she had run off from the group home and that was the last anyone saw of her, until Cruger saw the video feed of her and Jack stealing from the warehouse of a clothing store. He could only presume that somehow the two ran into each other sometime after she ran away, and had stuck together ever since.

But he hadn't known them that well; Sky's parents were the only ones he had known well enough to call friends. It had been twenty years since the passing of Sky's father, a man Cruger still missed and always would. He had been a great man and Ranger, someone he could always count on. And Sky's mother… he sighed heavily, their relationship had changed rapidly, especially after…

"Commander?" announced Kat, as she walked up to Cruger who was standing by his post. She tilted her head, trying to get his attention, because he hadn't responded to her. It took a few tries but she eventually got his attention. "Is everything all right, sir?"

"Yes," he answered, as he snapped back into reality. "Was there something you needed, Dr. Manx?"

"I just thought you'd like to know that the morphers will be ready when you make the announcement." She had known that Cruger wanted to get another set of Rangers out on the streets as soon as possible; they had been without a full team for almost five years. "Boom and I finished the last round of upgrades."

"Thank you, they couldn't have come at a better time."

"You know they say the fifth year's the hardest," she sighed, as she smiled faintly.

"And I always thought it was the first year."

"I guess it's both, in a way." She gently gripped his hand. "It'll be nice to have a team of Rangers around the academy again."

"Yes, it will."

* * *

"So why isn't Luc hanging out with us today?" asked Brooke, as she, Maxie, Sam and Matt walked through the park to enjoy the rest of the week off from their duties at the academy. All of them knew that if they were the team chosen to be the next Rangers that was when the real work would begin and they wouldn't have many days like this.

"Said something came up, but he'd try to meet up with us later," answered Matt.

Maxie was walking next to Sam and could tell something was bothering him, in fact he seemed like something had been wrong for the past couple of weeks, but always acted as though everything was great. She thought it might have something to do with the testing scores; as long as she's known Sam, he'd wanted to be a Ranger. "Hey Sam, you okay?" She gripped his shoulder. "Don't worry about the testing scores. I'm sure everything will work out. I know how much being a Ranger means to you."

"It's not that." He smiled faintly.

"Then what is it?" she asked.

He was getting ready to respond when…. "Hey, isn't that Luc!" exclaimed Brooke, as she stopped and pointed several feet away to a young man who looked a lot like Luc tossing a ball with a little boy who looked to be about four, maybe a little older.

"Sure looks like him," answered Matt.

"Who do you think the kid is?" Maxie joined in. "As far as I know he has no siblings." She turned to Sam. "You've been hanging with him a lot lately, do you know anything?"

Sam shook his head. "No. He's never mentioned anything about a kid."

"Come on, let's go say hi," announced Matt, as he started towards their team leader and the young boy he was tossing a ball around with.

"Matt!" started Maxie, but it was too late, Luc had already spotted Matt heading towards him. She turned to Sam and Brooke. "We might as well."

Luc just shook his head and smirked. Knowing his friends, they were probably all wondering what he was doing tossing a ball around with some kid. It probably wasn't the first thought that would come to their minds when they thought of him, that he would be hanging with some little kid. "Hey guys, thought you were going to the beach."

"We decided to hit the park first," answered Matt, before he locked his eyes right on the boy with dark blonde hair who stood right next to Luc. "Who's the kid?"

"He's my cousin, smartass!" Knowing all too well what Matt was thinking. "His mother couldn't get a sitter and I told her I would watch him for the day."

"He's adorable!" Brooke grinned, as she got down on her knees in front of the boy and put out her hand. "What's your name, sweetie? My name's Brooke."

"I'm Ryan."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Ryan." Brooke grinned as she shook the boy's hand. She was slightly surprised when Ryan returned the hand grip a bit tighter than she was expecting. "That's one nice grip you got there, kid-o."

"Sorry…" Ryan backed away a little, only to have Luc grip his shoulder, letting him know it was all right.

"Oh, Ryan, before I forget, this is Matt…"

"Hey there, sport." Matt waved at the kid.

"…Maxie."

"Nice to meet you, Ryan."

"And Sam."

"The one that can teleport!" exclaimed the young boy.

"Yeah. That would be me," answered Sam, as he grinned back.

"Cool! You think you can show me, sometime? Please."

"I'm sure we can work that out."

"Cool!" Ryan looked up at Luc. "Isn't that cool, Luc?"

"Way cool, buddy."

"So I'm curious, Luc, what exactly were you planning on doing with Ryan today?" asked Maxie, grinning. The last thing she'd ever expected was to see Luc hanging out with a little kid.

"Oh, I don't know, thought we'd toss a few balls in the park, maybe a movie, something to eat and if we so happen to meet any girls so be it."

"My mommy says that you can't use me to pick up any more girls!" exclaimed Ryan stubbornly, causing everyone to laugh.

Luc, laughing to himself, tossed the ball in his hands and then threw it over to Matt. "Hey Ryan, why don't you go show Matt that arm of yours."

"Come on kid, maybe I can teach you a thing or two." Matt patted Ryan on the back and led him over to a spot where they could throw the ball around. "My team won our little league championship two years in a row."

Sam and Brooke went over to watch the two while Luc settled down on a park bench sitting next to Maxie. The two watched as Matt tossed a ball to Ryan who caught it with no problem, then tossed the ball right back at Matt, who just barely caught it. "Hey Luc, you forgot to mention the little guy was a pro," hollered Matt, as he continued to play ball with Ryan.

"So why haven't you ever mentioned Ryan before?' asked Maxie as she turned to Luc.

"I don't know, it's not like he's my kid or anything. Just my cousin," he answered. "I don't recall you ever talking about your cousins."

"Point taken. He just seems really taken with you is all."

"What? You thought I was just some Army jock who only likes being in the action?" That's what most people thought of him, as he was both born and grew up on Army bases. It didn't bother him; he intended to use that to his advantage.

"Something like that." Maxie grinned; perhaps Luc did have a sweet side to him, under all that solider in him. "So does Ryan have a father?"

Luc didn't answer at first, but if the question bothered him at all he didn't show it. "No. He died a long time ago, it was a boating accident."

"Oh." She smiled faintly. "That's awful, I'm sorry for asking."

"Don't worry about it," Luc answered, shrugging it off. "It was a long time ago." Luc then turned his attention back of to Ryan, watching him as he threw the ball to Matt, having the time of his life.

* * *

Though reluctantly, Sky did return to see Dr. Keen, mainly because he didn't want to give Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie any more reason to want to dismiss him from the academy, or at least that's what he kept telling himself. It was closing in on another year passing by; sooner than that Cruger would be selecting the new Ranger team. The year had passed by faster than he ever thought it could. Holidays came and went, as did his twenty-fifth birthday, not that he celebrated any of them anymore, they had just become another day to him. None of that mattered anymore.

Sky sat silently in his chair, staring straight at Dr. Keen, but not. He was just staring out, like he wasn't even there. His thoughts were elsewhere, thinking about something that had happened earlier in the day that would later bring him back here at 7:00 at night. Dr. Keen sat patently in her chair waiting for Sky, knowing that this might be the first real breakthrough that she'd had with him. She knew it wouldn't all come out at once and not all his problems would be solved, but for now it was a start.

**Several hours earlier….**

Sky was out on patrol driving his bike when he passed by the graveyard and spotted two couples that he had not seen in almost five years. For reasons that he didn't even know, he brought his bike to a halt, took off his helmet and just gazed at them from a distance, watching as they laid flowers at a headstone and walked a few feet to another headstone and laid the remaining flowers that they held down on the ground.

The couples were Mary and Gunnther Drew and Dean and Susan Carson, Syd's and Bridge's parents, visiting their children's graves. Though the sad part being their children weren't even there, just a stone with their name, but they needed somewhere to go, to remember, and while the academy had a nice memorial monument it wasn't the best spot to have some privacy. Sky had to turn away, to ease the stinging pain in his heart, knowing that if he had just taken the time to listen to Jack that day, those stones wouldn't have Syd's and Bridge's names on them. They would be someone else's, some other loss that probably wouldn't have any connection to them.

He was getting ready to head back on the road, when he heard a voice calling out to him. He had been spotted. Sky bowed his head down, sighing, before he turned to see them heading towards him. He hopped off his bike and set his helmet down on the seat.

"Schuyler, it _is_ you," announced Susan Carson. As she and the rest approached him she smiled at him faintly. She had not seen him in almost five years, only had heard about some of the arrests he had made over the years on the news.

"Hi, Mrs. Carson," Sky answered back uncomfortably, as if he felt he didn't deserve the warm smile she gave him. He shook her hand and then turned to Dean Carson, shaking his hand as well. "Mr. Carson."

"Please, we're all adults here, call me Dean."

Sky didn't answer, just shook his head, as if he didn't know what to say in return. He had thought he would never have to face any of these people again, especially after what had happened, after his last encounter with Syd's parents, mainly her father. A sickly feeling came over him as he faced the Drews, locking eyes with Gunnther Drew, a very proud hard-working man, whose own words still hung over his shoulder.

_The memorial services had ended and everybody was heading out, only a few still remained. Sky stood in front of the monument with his head hanging down, with the events of the days before still weighing heavily on his mind. He was so lost in his own world that he hadn't noticed Mrs. Drew trying to hold back her husband from coming near him, until he felt a hand gripping tightly on his shoulder forcing him to turn around._

_He was furious, hurt by the sudden loss of his daughter whose life had been cut short. Gunnther Drew's eyes were close to piercing Sky Tate's own eyes, but out of respect he continued to look the pain right in the eyes, never looking away, no matter how badly he wanted to. "You promised me," Mr. Drew hissed, as he struggled to keep his own agony together. "You made me a promise that you would look out for her, that you wouldn't let anything bad happen to her."_

_"Gunnther, please!" cried Mary, knowing that her husband wasn't thinking straight, and that it was the pain of losing their only daughter talking. "This isn't the time or the place."_

_"No. He needs to hear this!" He ran a hand over his face to wipe away the falling tears. "It isn't fair. Why did he get to live and my little angel didn't?"_

_"Mr. Drew, I'm-"_

_"Stop it!" he exclaimed, his face tightened up with anger. "I don't want to hear how sorry you are. I just want to hear it from you that you failed. You failed to protect her."_

_'You failed to protect her.' _The words still lingered in his mind, because ever since that day had happened he felt like he had failed. He failed everyone. Mrs. Drew walked up to him, smiled, and put her arms around him, hugging him. Though it was awkward Sky returned the hug briefly as he patted the woman on the back. She was the spitting image of Sydney, which made it all the harder for him.

"It's so good to see you, sweetie."

"Y-you too," he answered back softly, unsure of his words and what he was supposed to say to her. No amount of words would ever undo what had happened, no matter how badly he would want it to. He couldn't bring her back. He couldn't bring any of them back. He couldn't undo his mistake.

It was then Gunnther Drew's turn to walk up to him; anyone would have to be blind not to notice that there was an uncomfortable tension between the two men. Recalling their last encounter Gunnther sighed heavily, biting his lip, knowing that years ago he had overreacted and said some things to Sky that he never should have. He had been angry and hurt, so that he acted without thinking things through. "You've done a fine job protecting this city, son." He looked him right in the eyes. "Your father would be proud of you." It was the only thing he could say, he couldn't take back what he had said years ago.

"….Yeah," Sky answered, not sure how he was supposed to respond to that. The only thing he felt like doing was getting out of that position, because he couldn't stand to face them any longer. "I better get going. It was good to see you all again." Sky backed a few feet away until he turned around, grabbed his helmet from his bike and drove off.

**Present…..**

"I promised all of them that I would look out for their kids. Commander Cruger put me in charge of them when they both came to the academy." Sydney had been the first one to come, just a few months or so after Dru had been transferred, then in 2023 was when Bridge joined them. Each time he had assured their parents that he would look out for them, when they had asked him if he would.

"You were just a seventeen year old boy when you made that promise. You had no way of knowing what the future held."

"Maybe not, but it was still my job," he responded harshly as he looked up at the older woman. "And I blew it!"

"Do you think that's why you're afraid to get close to Sam, because you're scared that it could happen again?"

"No!" he exclaimed. "I'm not afraid. I just work better alone. That way I don't have to worry about anyone but me."

Dr. Keen knew better, but she couldn't just declare the fact to him that he was afraid. He needed to be the one to admit it and only when he finally started admitting things to himself and others, only then would he be able to move forward.

* * *

Cruger stood on a platform behind the podium facing over hundreds of cadets, next to Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie. Several of his lieutenants sat in chairs behind them, Sky being one of them. Today was graduation day for a good majority of the B squad cadets who had finished their schooling; some of them would continue on at SPD to become part of the elite force of cadets, others would move on to other things, but only five would move on to become the next generation of Power Rangers.

"I want to congratulate you all on your hard work," announced Cruger. "You should all be very proud of yourselves and I will look forward to working with many of you in the future." The speech continued on, talking more about how B squad had progressed over this past year and how both Cruger and Birdie couldn't be any prouder of the fine group.

And then it finally came down to which team had been chosen to become Power Rangers. Birdie had asked the cadets who had been in the Ranger track program to stand up. "I would first like to thank you all for your dedication in the program. I could tell each and every one of you put your heart and soul into it; as your Supreme Commander I couldn't be any prouder," he announced to them all. He took in each of their faces, seeing the greatness before him. "Being a Power Ranger is one of the greatest duties a cadet can ever be given. It's also one of the most dangerous, and in some cases not for the tender of heart. The battleground can be a dangerous place; I have seen with my own eyes many warriors fall to their deaths." He paused for a moment, as if he were taking a moment to think about the lives long lost. "But if you couldn't handle that kind of pressure, none of you would be standing here today. But only five of you can be chosen, so with that said I would like to thank you all once again. Commander Cruger will call out these five names. These five will be Earth's newest Rangers and I expect great things from them." Bridie turned to Cruger and nodded his head.

Cruger took his place once again at the podium; he took a deep breath. This was much different in years past when SPD first started on Earth, a ceremony such as this did not take place to call forth new Rangers, but it being graduation for the seniors it seemed only fitting. It came as no surprise as the five names were called, for the past couple of months it was what everyone had been expecting.

Luc Wilder, the twenty year old and oldest of the five was the first one to be called up. He had come to the academy four and a half years ago when he was sixteen, having transferred from his previous military school out of the country. Though American, he had spent the majority of his life growing up all over, going wherever his mother was needed.

Maxie Sanders, nineteen years of age, had been at the academy just a year less then Luc. She was definitely one of the wittiest of the girls at the academy, who wasn't afraid of a lot of hard work or getting dirty, much of which had to do with growing up with five older brothers.

Matt Jones, nineteen years old, just a couple of months shy of his twentieth birthday, was the next name that was called. He had joined the academy just around the time that Luc had. He came to the academy having outstanding martial arts ability, having won several competitions and also came from a long family history of law enforcement.

Brooke Rogers, the young nineteen year old and probably the one everyone had least suspected would stick with the academy, has somehow managed to prove to everyone that she did belong there. She might be one of the prettiest girls there, but she had what it took to be hard working and was very dedicated to SPD.

And finally the last name was called forward, the young eighteen year old who had been at the academy longer than his four comrades, Sam Gates. Cruger announced his name proudly, knowing greatness was before him, he's seen it. And knew the promise he had made years ago to the former Sam would now become a reality.

"And I give you," Cruger looked over at the five standing not far from him on the platform, "our new team of Rangers. Let's congratulate them!" An uproar of cheering and clapping came their way, from both in front and behind.

Even Sky clapped; he was truly happy for Sam. This was what Sam had wanted ever since they had brought him here to the academy, having rescued him from Gruumm's evil plans. It was a proud moment to watch as the morphers were handed out to the five, but as happy as he was for Sam…. He was painfully reminded of what it felt like to be part of a team and how he would never have his team back. And though he could always be given a new one, that's not what he wanted. Finally it became too much for him to handle and he had to step out, leaving everyone else to celebrate without him.


	7. Mistakes

**Authors note: **Just to be clear a few things up, just in case theres any question. This is an AU of SPD of what could have happened, if Dru had a more evil plot in wanting to take down SPD, for the most part his character is the same as it was in the show. He did come back to SPD the same way he did on the show, that's pretty much is where the AU starts. Gruumm was still defeated, but without the help of the other rangers, so that is one of the biggest differences of this AU, as is how Sky got the red morpher.

* * *

It would be five years tomorrow. Five years since he was reunited with his old friend. Five years since that same friend had betrayed him. Five years since he had lost them. His team, his friends; the people who had always counted on him were gone, leaving him alone. For the past five years he had been the lone red Ranger and until now, the only Ranger. Now Earth had five new Rangers, a new team, a new beginning.

A couple of weeks, that's all it had been since Cruger and Birdie announced the new addition, the next generation of Rangers, with Luc Wilder as their leader. He had been given the Astro morpher, Matt the Metallic, Brooke the Magma, Maxie the Nova and Sam had not at all surprisingly been given the Omega morpher. They had been doing a good job patrolling the city, keeping it safe and bringing in the bad guys. Sky couldn't deny the fact that they were a strong team with trust in each other.

_Trust…_ Sky sighed heavily as he took a sip of his beer. That had been a problem with the team he'd had. He hadn't really trusted Jack that well. No, he had been too pissed that Jack had been given the rank of red Ranger over him. His pride had gotten the better of him. Deep down a part of him knew that if he had listened to Jack that day, then perhaps things would be not as they were today.

_Jack pulled Sky to the side in the docking bay, before the two followed the others in. "This isn't a good idea, Sky. I don't think we should be going to this training exercise." He sighed heavily as he looked the blue Ranger in the eyes. "Look, I know that Dru's your friend, but something just doesn't feel right about him." He had lived on the streets long enough to get a feel about people, about who could be trusted and who couldn't. And Dru was giving him that not trusting vibe._

"_Look, I don't really care how you feel about him!" exclaimed Sky. "Dru's my friend. He helped me through some tough times when I first came here." Sky looked Jack hard in the eyes. "I trust him with my life. Just let it go, Jack." With those final words Sky shoved past Jack and headed towards his ship._

Sky continued to drink his sorrows away, as he finished his drink. He eyed the bartender, giving him a nod as he pushed his glass towards him. The bartender stared at Sky for a moment, knowing that it would be going into the fifth beer. "You're not driving tonight, right?" Sky didn't answer, just gave the bartender a annoyed look, but ended up pulling his bike keys out of his pocket and tossing them to the bartender. The older man just shrugged his shoulders as he tossed the keys in the register and filled up Sky's glass. "Whatever your problems are, kid, this won't help you."

"Yeah." Sky took a sip. "Well, I don't remember asking you," exclaimed Sky harshly. The last thing he needed was for the bartender to be giving him some heart to hear talk about how he should be dealing with his problems. The bartender just shook his head and walked away to go wait on another group sitting up at the bar.

Sky drank his beer he took a look around the bar, as if he were scanning to see if any of his _old flings _were there. While he couldn't exactly be sure, he did notice that a few people sitting around the table in the small bar and restaurant did notice him, knowing all too well who he was or at least what they've heard about him, which gave a reason why no girls had wandered his way. He turned back in his seat to face the bar, staring at himself in the mirror, no longer knowing who he was, no longer caring.

After a few more swigs he could feel the alcohol was starting to take its effect on him and that's when he noticed a young girl come up to the bar and sitting down next to him. He briefly caught a glimpse of her face through the corner of his eye, just enough to know who the girl was. It was Brooke, one of the new Power Rangers and one he knew all too well had a crush on him, but he had never acted on it, given the rank difference and that he was never interested in her, but then he had been sober. If he hadn't been in the condition he was, he probably would have grabbed her by the arm and gotten her out of the bar, given the fact that she was underage and wasn't supposed to be there. After he watched the bartender give her a drink, he watched as the older man walked down to the end of the bar. "Somebody is looking for trouble."

"Lieutenant Tate?" Brooke was a little shaken up; she hadn't even noticed him when she sat down, having not recognized him out of uniform. "I-I….."

Sky gave a smug smile. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He turned around on his barstool so they were facing each other. "And please, call me Sky. We're both Rangers here, no need for the formality."

Brooke smiled, though through the back of her mind she was telling herself that he was drunk and had no idea what he was saying, but at that moment she really didn't care. The only thing she cared about was that he was finally taking notice of her. "Okay." She smiled. "Sky."

"So where are your friends?" asked Sky.

"They're out. I told them I would meet up with them later," she answered as she took a sip of her drink. "Maybe you should come with us, since we are all Rangers."

Sky smirked at the thought, as he nodded towards the bartender to refill his beer. "I don't think so. Me and group events don't go well together," he said as he got ready to take a chug of his newly refilled drink, making it be his sixth beer of the night.

"Don't you think you've had enough tonight?" she asked, noticing that his balance was slowly get worse as he sat in the stool. She smiled. "We wouldn't want SPD's finest to end up in the emergency room."

"Nothing I haven't done before," muttered Sky, as he drowned himself more in his drink. "I'm very resistant. I could easily handle an army of criminals all on my own."

"Oh really?" she exclaimed in an almost flirty way, as she playfully swatted him on the shoulder. "Since we're not so formal anymore, what would you say if I asked you to dance?" asked Brooke as she heard a new song begin to play.

"I don't know about that," answered Sky, as he finished off his drink.

"What, afraid you're going to step on my feet?" joked Brooke, grinning to herself. "Nothing I haven't had happen to me before. You can't be as bad as some of the other guys I've danced with."

"Well…."

"Come on," pleaded Brooke, as she stood up and held out her hand. "It's just one dance."

"Just one?"

"Nothing bad can come out of one dance."

"No. I guess not." Sky smiled briefly, as he took Brooke's hand and followed her onto the dance floor.

In the back of Sky's mind something was telling him this was wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to break away from the girl standing so close to his body. The alcohol that he had consumed over the past two or so hours had finally impaired his judgment, as it had in the years before. "I can't believe that it taken me all these years to finally notice just how beautiful you really are."

Brooke couldn't believe that she was actually dancing with 'great Sky Tate', the man of her dreams, who she had had a crush on ever since she joined the academy, and that what he had just said was beyond anything she had ever dreamt of. She didn't answer, just smiled brightly as she slowly leaned in to kiss him.

* * *

"Wasn't Brooke supposed to meet up with us over an hour ago at dinner?" exclaimed Sam, as he and the others walked downtown having just left a late dinner. They were headed straight for the club, since they all had tomorrow off.

"That's what she told me," answered her roommate Maxie. "Brooke told me this afternoon while we were on patrol that she would meet up with us at dinner." Even Maxie was surprised because it was unlike Brooke not to show up when she said she would and even if she wasn't going to be able to make it, she was the type of person who would call.

"Maybe she met a guy?' Matt answered, adding his own ideas, knowing that there were plenty of guys who would love to date a girl like Brooke.

"Or maybe-" Luc voice was cut off by a couple that had just stumbled out of the bar and dance club that they were about to pass by on the corner. He couldn't believe what he was seeing with his own two eyes. It was Sky Tate hanging himself over Brooke, the two of them laughing and enjoying each other. "Not this time, pal!"

"Luc, what is it?" asked Sam, as he questioned his friend's declaration, watching as Luc stormed himself forward, fists clenched together. It was when he took a few steps forward to realize what his leader was heading towards - "Oh no."

"Is that...?" Maxie questioned. "Brooke with Lt. Tate?" Even with her saying it aloud it didn't make any sense. No sense at all. Sure, she knew that Brooke liked Lt. Tate, but the chances of the two ever really hooking up together were next to none.

"Oh, this isn't going to go well," announced Matt, knowing all too well what Luc was about to do. "Luc, don't!" he yelled as he ran towards his friend, with Sam and Maxie following quickly behind him.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" exclaimed Luc as he punched Sky hard in the face, causing the red Ranger to fall backwards.

"Luc, what the hell was that for?" yelled Brooke, not understanding why her leader just threw a punch at Sky for what seemed no reason at all to her.

"Stay out of this, Brooke," shouted Luc as he furiously stared down at Sky, who was slowly pushing himself up as he wiped the blood away from his cut lip. "Besides, you should be thanking me. I just saved your sorry ass from this asshole."

"Just saved me?" she questioned. "What are you talking about?" By now the others had gathered around along with a few other bystanders who came to see what all the commotion was about.

"He doesn't care about you, Brooke." Luc clinched his fists tighter and tighter together, feeling all the rage and envy he had held so long against Sky come over him in full force. "All he cares about is screwing you over and then forgetting all about you come morning." Luc stood over Sky. "Isn't that right, Tate!"

"Shut the hell up!" roared Sky as he went at Luc, throwing punches left and right. Even in his drunken state he managed to get a few hard hits on Luc's face, but not without taking a few to his own. Both of them ignored the pleas of the other Rangers standing around them, asking them to stop.

Maxie wrapped her arms around Brooke who was full of mixed emotions, as the two watched the two men continue to go at it. Sam watched helplessly, not knowing what to do, along with Matt who had known that Luc has had issues with Sky, but he never thought it was this bad.

"I may not have been able to stop you from hurting her, but I sure as hell won't let you do what you did to her, to Brooke!" Luc caught Sky off guard and came at him with a hard uppercut punch to the face, causing Sky's body to turn and drop to the ground hard. Luc was about to continue his effort at beating the hell out of Sky, until he felt Matt wrap his arms around him, holding him back.

"That's enough, Luc!" shouted Matt. "He's so drunk that he can barely stand up straight." Matt knew if he didn't hold Luc back that he would do some serious harm to Lt. Tate, as things could very easily get way out of hand.

"I don't care! I'm going to teach this bastard a lesson," Luc roared, trying to break free of Matt's hold on him as Sky slowly was getting his bearings together to push himself to his feet. "Let me go, Matt!"

"You're going to pay for that!" shouted Sky, as he stood up getting ready to attack Luc, but before he could lay another hand on him he felt two arms wrap around him in a tightening grip, forcing him back. "What the hell!"

"Sky, you need to stop this before you get hurt," announced Sam.

"Let me go, Sam!" exclaimed Sky, as he tried to break free from the eighteen year old's hold.

"No!" Sam answered firmly; he would not let go, no matter how hard Sky struggled to break free. There was no way in hell he was going to let him go. "You're not yourself. Let me get you back to the academy before you do something you'll regret."

"Sam, what the hell are you helping him for?" shouted Luc, not believing that Sam would be helping Sky, especially after what he had been planning on doing with Brooke.

"Look, I don't expect you to understand," exclaimed Sam. He hated this, feeling caught up in the middle between his friends and someone who years ago had saved his life. The youngest member of the team hated this; a great amount of agony came over him.

"Understand?" exclaimed Luc as he forced himself free of Matt, causing Matt to fall to the ground. The girls rushed to his side to help him up. "Understand. I wouldn't understand!" Luc just shook his head, feeling slightly betrayed by Sam's actions. "We're supposed to be friends, Sam. What the hell wouldn't I understand?"

Luc just shook his head and turned his attention back to the man he hated more than anything. He got right in Sky's face; it took everything he had not to punch him. Sky struggled to get free, wanting nothing more than to rip Luc apart. "And to think you're the big hotshot that took out Gruumm and cleaned up the planet from a bunch of dirtbags just like him."

"What the hell is your problem? You haven't liked me from day one, when you joined the academy."

He took a deep breath, knowing now would be his chance to finally say what he wanted to say, what he had wanted to say for so long. "You want to know why I hate your guts so much, so that I would like nothing more than to rip you apart and see you stripped of your morpher and your honor?" Luc licked his lips. "It's because you're no better than the criminals you brought in."

Sky locked his eyes with Luc, anger flowing through his body, the alcohol impairing his judgment. "_What_?"

"You hurt my cousin." Anger flowed through his body. "You got what you wanted from her and then you just took off." No longer being able to control himself, Luc punched Sky hard in the gut, causing the red Ranger to drop to his knees, letting out a hard raspy breath.

"Luc!" Matt, along with the girls, ran over to their leader and pulled him back from Sky before he could get in another hit on him.

"I don't know… what you're… talking about," gasped Sky as he was nearly out of breath; everything was starting to blur and darkness was starting to settle in. He started to stand up, only to drop back to his knees. Sam knelt down next to him, holding Sky firmly.

"Maybe this will refresh your memory." Luc paused for a moment, wanting to make sure he was looking Sky right in the eyes. "Does the name Ally Samuels mean anything to you!" he shouted angrily, as he once again broke free. "Because she means something to me!"

Before Luc could take another hit on Sky, Sam teleported himself and Sky out of the downtown area. Luc dropped to his knees right in the spot where Sky and Sam once were. He slammed his fist into the pavement. "SAM!!"

"Luc?" Matt gripped his friend's shoulder. "You going to be okay, buddy?"

Luc stood up and brushed Matt's hand away. He firmly walked up to Brooke with anger burning in his eyes. "What the hell were you doing at the bar? I told you months ago to get rid of that fake idea."

"Luc, I-I…"

"Just forget about it!" he answered harshly, as he brushed past her and started walking off into the late night alone.

Maxie walked up to Brooke, wrapping her arm around her friend. "Don't worry, he'll get over it. He just needs to cool down for a while."

"Good thing we have tomorrow off, because I do not want to be around him when he's like this."

"Do you guys think Sam will be okay?" asked Brooke.

"Sam's tough and I'm sure Luc and he will work things out." Maxie offered her friends a warm smile. "Come on, let's head back to the academy."

* * *

Sam sat in Sky's darkened dorm room. He had gotten Sky into bed and gotten a cold cloth to clean up the blood on Sky's face. It had been an easy matter, Sky had passed out the moment they teleported in.

He couldn't bring himself to leave Sky's side, whether it was because he didn't want to return to his room and have to face his friends or out of concern for Sky's condition, not wanting him to be alone. Maybe it was both; he couldn't be sure. So he sat there in a chair watching as the man he had seen struggle to move forward turned violently in his sleep, reliving that horrible day through his nightmares. It was heartbreaking watching as the most feared Ranger and SPD officer violently tossed and turned in his sleep, calling out his former teammates' names.

Names Sam knew all too well. They were the names of those who had helped him, and became the first real friends that he ever had. He was connected to them in a way he would never be connected to anyone else. All of them had special powers, which they had gotten from their parents due to an accident that had happened years ago. At the time it was an almost comforting feeling to know that their parents had known each other, even for the briefest of time it may have been.

It was a sight watching the fear of emotions shine on Sky face. It was enough to frighten anyone; Sam could feel his heart pounding against his chest, it nearly broke his heart seeing his friend like this, so much pain, so much anger …so much guilt. He had watched it everyday for the last five years getting worse.

"I'm sorry. ...Sam. It's my fault," Sam heard Sky whimper in his sleep. "They're gone. …I couldn't save them."

A few tears rolled down Sam's cheek, listening to Sky's soft whimpers. "You know I don't blame you." He sighed heavily, perhaps now understanding why Sky had been keeping him at a distance all these years. "I never did." He kept his eyes locked on Sky's sleeping face. "You know that, right?" His eyes started getting heavy, he struggled to stay awake for just a while longer, but sleep would prevail….

Sky woke up with a massive headache and a sickly feeling in his stomach, as the events from last night came back to haunt him at full force. He had once again drowned himself in alcohol and had found a girl, but instead of it being just some girl at the bar, this time it was someone he knew, maybe not that well, but enough to know that she wasn't a girl he should have playing around with. "…Such an idiot." He slowly opened his eyes, only to have the morning sun shining in his face through the window. "Wh-where am I?" He started to push himself up, but quickly felt like the room was spinning around. Slowly he lay back down and that dizzy feeling died down the moment his head hit the softness of sheets. It only took a few quick moments for him to realize he was in his room at the academy. "How'd I get here?" That seemed all blank to him.

"I brought you here last night."

Sky turned his head and saw Sam sitting in a chair to the side of him, looking as if he didn't get a good night's sleep. "Sam?" he questioned, not sure himself if that really was him sitting there. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him and no one was really there.

"Yeah. You were pretty out of it; you passed out the moment I teleported us in."

Sky took a few soft breaths, trying to ease the heavy pain in his head. "Did you stay here the whole night?"

"Thought it might be a good idea."

"You didn't have to do that," answered Sky as he slowly sat himself up, trying his best to ignore the dizzy sickly feeling that was overcoming him.

"I know, but I thought you could use a friend." Sam turned slightly and grabbed a water bottle and a couple of aspirin he had gotten early this morning for Sky. "Here."

Sky took the pills and swallowed them with the water. "Thanks for helping me out, Sam, but…" He licked his lips, as he met Sam's eyes. "I can't be your friend." He knew things had gotten out of hand with Brooke, he knew even in the state he was in that it was wrong to play her on like that. And then things had only gotten worse when he fought against Luc. "I'm not worth the time."

"Sky…"

"You may only get one team, Sam, don't screw up what you have with them to save my sorry ass."

"So what are you saying, that I should have let Luc beat the shit out of you?" asked Sam, as he watched Sky push himself to his feet and walk, staggering, towards the door.

"Not like I didn't deserve it," muttered Sky, as he leaned against the door for a moment to gather his bearings. He used his other hand to open the sliding door.

Sam stood up and turned to face Sky. "Is what Luc said about Ally true?" asked Sam, knowing all too well who she was. He may have only met her couple of times, but he knew she had been Jack's girlfriend. The last time he had seen her was from a distance at the memorial services.

Sky never met Sam's eyes. He just sighed heavily and turned his head to face the door as it swished open. "See you around, Sam."

Before Sky made it all the way out the door and started to stumble down the hall, Sam called out to him. "I don't blame you for what happened back then. I never did."

Sky stopped, but never turned around to face him. "You may not, but I was there. I did kill them, Sam."

_They had been on the deserted training planet for almost an hour, preparing, doing stretches and getting their gear on before they would run though the ten mile course of battlefield like experience. Only SPD's best ever trained here, but years ago it had been shut down because too many officers were getting injured, due to the course being unpredictable._

_"I have a bad feeling about this, guys," announced Bridge. "Something just doesn't feel right about this place, something's off." The young green Ranger couldn't be exact in his feelings, only enough to know that something just wasn't right._

_"I have to agree with Bridge," answered Jack as he checked out the deserted planet that looked untouched for years. His eyes connected to the SPD signs, reading DANGER, BEWARE, BANNED, CLOSED DOWN. "SPD wouldn't have shut this place down unless they had a very good reason."_

_"Don't tell me, a guy like you, who has probably broken into places with signs like this, is afraid of a little danger," mocked Dru. "Besides, the officers that got hurt here weren't even Rangers, and they didn't have special powers like you."_

_"Powers or no powers, this place still gives me the creeps," exclaimed Syd as she looked around; it was all just too quiet for her, an eerie feeling, as if her instinct told her it was a bad idea coming here._

_"Nothing bad is going to happen, trust me guys," announced Sky. "Back when Dru was still at the academy, he and I would always sneak off here to train. And we're both still here."_

_"Thanks, Sky, that's so reassuring," answered Z, a bit annoyed. "But what if Cruger finds out about this? I may not have been at SPD that long, but I'm sure he wouldn't be pleased with what we're doing."_

_"What the old dog doesn't know won't hurt him," announced Dru._

_"That coming from the guy who's been missing over a year," said Jack, as he got into Dru's face. "Just where have you been all that time?"_

_"I told you. I don't remember," answered Dru, getting very defensive as his eyes glared right at Jack's._

_"And why don't I believe you?"_

_"Hey Jack!" Sky lightly shoved Jack away from Dru. "Lay off him, or else-"_

_"Or else what, Sky?" exclaimed Jack. By now the others had gathered around Jack and were all facing Sky and Dru._

_Sky could feel his anger and resentment towards Jack flow right through him. "You know what, I don't need this. If you guys don't want to run the course, fine. I'll see you back on Earth." Sky turned around. "Come on, Dru; let's show them what an SPD officer is all about."_

_"Sky, don't go away mad!" exclaimed Syd as she called out to him, but he never turned around to face her._

Sky felt as the water poured down his body. He leaned his head against the wall, closing his eyes tight, as he banged his fist against the shower stall walls. "I should have never have left you guys alone," he cried as he slid down in the shower, leaning his back against the wall and bringing his legs up against his chest, and burying his head into his knees.

He didn't remember much about that moment, only that it was a quick and swift moment. A moment he wished he could get back, but he knew that no matter what he did he would never be able to get it back and take it away. It would forever be the moment he lost and with it, it took four people he would forever miss.

_It had been only about twenty minutes since they had left the others. They had been running, just enjoying each other's company like they had years ago back when they were just teenagers goofing off. "You have no idea how good it is to have you back, Dru." He turned around. "I thought that…" But Dru was nowhere to be seen. Sky turned around and around, but Dru was nowhere to be seen. "Dru!" called out Sky, but no answer came. "Dru!" he called over and over, but no answer came._

_When Dru never answered his calls Sky started getting concerned, because it wasn't like Dru to fall behind. He was about to head back in the direction he was coming from, hoping to find Dru just straggling behind, when….BAM. Something whacked Sky hard in the head and his body dropped to the ground unmoving._

_A dark shadow stood over Sky. It kicked him hard in the gut, causing his body to turn over on his back. Sky blinked his eyes a few times, but was seeing unclear double images. Darkness was starting to cave in. And in the last second before the darkness took over, he saw his attacker. "Wootox…How did you…escape…?"_

After that the only thing Sky remembered was waking up; his uniform was torn and blood was all over and in his hands was the red morpher. At first he had no idea what had happened, only these quick horrifying flashes going through his mind that didn't make any sense, and then voices in his head.

Over time it all did come together for him: those moments that were lost. He didn't have to be pychic to fill in the rest of the pieces. He knew what had happened after Wootox had hit him from behind. But unlike the last time Wootox had used his body, this time he had succeeded, and with it left memories for Sky that weren't his own. It was like he was there, which made him feel a part of the killings. It may have been Wootox that killed them, but he had been the weapon that killed his friends.

Sky just sat there soaking wet, with the water still pouring down. He had relieved that day over and over for the past five years. And he didn't want to. He wanted it to be over, to be gone. So he wouldn't have to face it everyday for the rest of his miserable life. "I can't do this anymore."

* * *

"Sir!" announced Sky, as he saluted Birdie.

"Ah, Lt. Tate, what do I owe this visit to?" asked Birdie. Just moments ago Sky had entered into his private office room. He was still on Earth tying up a few odds and ends before returning to Galaxy Command. The old commander eyed the young lieutenant cautiously, sensing something was wrong. "Are you all right, Lieutenant, you don't look well?"

Sky cleared his throat a bit; he still was feeling a little sickly. He knew well enough that Birdie really didn't like him, but he was the only one he could go to for this kind of request. "No, I'm fine, sir. Just had a long night was all."

Bridie nodded his head, knowing all too well about some of Lt. Tate's long nights. Though he hadn't heard anything yet, he was sure by noontime something would be out. He folded his hands together. "All right, Lieutenant, what is it that I can do for you?

"With your permission sir, I would like to…"


	8. Rash Decision

**Authors note: **Just to be clear a few things up, just in case theres any question. This is an AU of SPD of what could have happened, if Dru had a more evil plot in wanting to take down SPD, for the most part his character is the same as it was in the show. He did come back to SPD the same way he did on the show, that's pretty much is where the AU starts. Gruumm was still defeated, but without the help of the other rangers, so that is one of the biggest differences of this AU, as is how Sky got the red morpher.

* * *

"You're allowing him to what!" exclaimed Cruger. Only moments ago Supreme Commander Birdie had entered into the Command Center and informed him that Sky would be leaving for a mission in the next few hours to hunt down one of the most wanted criminals in SPD history.

"He came to me asking to join the Elite Space Task Force," claimed Birdie, who didn't seem at all bothered by it. "He was quite persistent about it."

Cruger, however, was very troubled by the announcement, knowing full well just how dangerous it was. He himself, long before the destruction of his home planet, had been part of E.S.T.F. and had seen many good friends die on missions due to the extreme danger each mission carried; being out in space long term was a very hard thing to do. It was not for the faint of heart.

He knew things had been bad for Sky, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that Sky would go this far. It seemed that after five years Sky Tate had had all he could take. "Elite Space Task Force was never intended for humans." Cruger got right into his superior's face. He could not believe that Birdie would allow Sky to be put on such a mission, especially given what today was. Not to mention the fact that just months ago Birdie had even talked about letting Sky go.

"Well, there is a first time for everything, isn't there?"

"When he came to you he was not in the right state of mind," claimed Cruger, knowing that Sky was bound to do something irrational on the five year anniversary given the young man's past history. "And I find it hard to believe that you would grant his request, when it wasn't so long ago that we were questioning his status."

Birdie gave Cruger a hard look; he neither denied nor confirmed his comrade's announcement. He walked around the Command Center, keeping his eyes locked on Cruger. "I would have thought you would be happy, this will give your new team a chance to shine." He paused for a moment, putting his hands behind his back. "Besides, it's not like you've been trying anything to change his attitude. I thought this was a good opportunity for him to have a change in scenery, get him back on track. It did you some good, after all."

Cruger took a few moments to gather his thoughts, not wanting to lash out at his commanding officer. "This is different." He eyed Birdie carefully. "Sky is in no condition to go on long term missions like this on his own."

"Perhaps," answered Birdie coolly, as he crossed his arms against his chest. "But he wouldn't take no for an answer." The first time Sky had asked him, his first response was no, but the young man was not about to give up. He had kept at it until Birdie was left with little choice.

"You are the Supreme Commander of this organization; when have you ever not been able to tell an officer no!" exclaimed Cruger.

Birdie sighed heavily. "It was either that or I transfer him to the Nebula base. Those were the choices he gave me." He wasn't at all surprised by the shocked look on Cruger's face. The Nebula base was one of the toughest bases in the galaxy; not many humans ever made it into the academy due to the extreme tactics that each cadet and officer were put through. It was not a base for the faint of heart, and given Sky's emotional state transferring to another base was the last thing he needed. So he had gone with the other option and granted Sky's request to be placed into E.S.T.F, where officers were stationed in space flying their flyers, and basically living in them, while they were on call 24/7. Days or weeks could go by sometimes before they would be assigned a mission.

"What would you have me do? I thought this was the best option to go with. At least this way there would be a direct link between Sky's flyer and the base." The old hard stern bird looked one of his oldest friends in the eyes. "You knew this was coming, Doggie, it was bound to happen," announced Birdie, who wasn't at all surprised when Sky had shown up in his office with the request. It had been something he had seen coming for a long time.

"You know he won't come back from this, that he plans on making this his last and final mission."

"Then I would suggest you give him a reason to want to come back alive."

* * *

"What the hell happened to your eye?" exclaimed Dru, seeing the light bruising around Sky's eye and a cut on his lip. "Did you try to steal some guy's girl last night?" He laughed in amusement. "I've would have liked to see the other guy."

Sky ignored Dru's comment, not wanting to get into what had happened last night, especially with Dru who would probably find the whole thing amusing. Dru, his former friend, had been in prison for the past years and would remain in there more than likely for the rest of his life, due to his involvement in the deaths of the Rangers. It saddened Sky because he could still recall the good times he and Dru had once had, before all this had happened. He had been his best friend, a brother, and for the life of him he still couldn't understand how Dru could have betrayed him like that, a knife to the heart. "I didn't come here just so you could make jokes," he responded harshly, as he glared his former friend in the eyes. "I've came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Dru laughed. "You going away on a trip with all your little girlfriends?"

Sky frowned slightly at Dru's remark, but he let it slide, knowing that no matter how much he tried the Dru he once knew no longer existed, and these days he had to wonder if he had ever. "I've just joined the Elite Space Task Force, so I won't be around for a while."

Dru just shook his head. "I guess you can't live with yourself any longer, so you up and joined the most likely way to get yourself killed. You always were one to run away from things when it got too much for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" questioned Sky harshly. He had known it probably would be a mistake coming here, but he needed some kind of closure between himself and Dru …but that seemed to be the very hold Dru had kept on him all these years. He wouldn't give Sky closure; it was as if Dru found pleasure in watching how miserable Sky could get.

"You couldn't do it," he hissed as he crossed his arms against his chest, glaring Sky in the eyes in an almost chilling way. "You killed Mirloc and Wootox in cold blood, but when it came to me you couldn't do it, like a coward you pulled out."

"And you didn't kill me," answered Sky as he struggled to control his emotions, knowing now he shouldn't have come here, because no matter what he said or how he said it Dru always found some way to turn things around.

"Did you ever think the reason I didn't kill you was because I wanted to watch you suffer, that I wanted to see the look in your eyes when you found out your friends were dead and that it was your fault?"

One tear fell from Sky, rolling down his cheek, for the loss of a friend who at one time he would have given up his life for. "Why was money so important to you, Dru?" he asked, knowing that was part of the reason why Dru had turned his back on him, SPD and everything else that came with it. "Money isn't everything." He started to get up from his chair to head out of the room.

"Easy for a guy who never had to worry about money to say!" he exclaimed.

"Wh-what?" announced Sky, as he stopped dead in his tracks and faced Dru once more. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" shouted Dru angrily. "You had the money and the power, but you decided to waste all that and become SPD." He could see that Sky was clearly shocked by his information and wanted to know just how he knew. "I have my ways," he smirked.

* * *

"Hey," Sam said softly as he entered into the dorm room he shared with Matt. He hadn't been back in the room since before they had gone out to dinner with the others. It was awkward coming into the room after what had gone on last night. Sam wasn't sure what to expect of his roommate or the rest of his friends, especially Luc.

"Hey," Matt replied softly from his bed, looking up from the sports magazine he had been reading before Sam entered into the room. He watched silently as Sam walked over to his bed and lay down; he could tell his young friend looked exhausted, like he hadn't gotten any sleep.

Sam sighed heavily, licking his lips, before he turned to face Matt. "How's Brooke?" He hadn't seen her all morning, or any of his teammates for that matter. He had gone to breakfast, a quick run and shower before coming here.

"She's fine. A little hurt, but she'll get over it." Matt swung his legs over so he was sitting on his bed. "Maxie and she are spending the day together, doing girl things or something."

Sam nodded his head. He hated the fact that Brooke had been hurt; he knew she had a crush on Sky. The only thing he could be grateful for was that things hadn't gone as far as they could have given Sky's history, but that still didn't take away how Brooke must be feeling. But then here was the pincher; while he was fairly sure things would be okay between him and the girls, he wasn't so sure about him and Luc. "How's Luc?" he asked, not even wanting to meet Matt's eyes this time.

Matt made a dry laugh. "You know Luc…." His smile faded. "He's still pretty upset, but you guys will work it out. He can't stay mad at you forever."

"I hope not." Over the time he and Luc had spent together, he had come to think of him as a big brother. The same way he felt about Sky. "I never meant to hurt him."

"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong. If you hadn't pulled Lt. Tate out of there who knows what could have happened." Matt smiled faintly. "You did the right thing, Sam. Besides, Luc should be cooling down since Lt. Tate will be leaving in a little more than an hour for a mission that will keep him away for a while."

"Wh-what?" Sam sat up and turned to Matt, his face full of confusion and surprise. "What are you talking about? What do you mean for a while?"

"I thought you knew," answered Matt, and he really did mean it; it had been what all the cadets were talking about all morning. "Sometime this morning Lt. Tate went to see Supreme Commander Birdie, asking to be assigned to Elite Space Task Force. Everyone's talking about it all over the academy." He would have thought that Sam would have known something, but clearly his young friend had no idea. No idea at all.

Sam couldn't believe it. He was speechless, beyond words. Deep down a part of him had always known there was that chance that one day Sky would pick up and leave, but he just couldn't believe that one day was today.

"I'm sorry, Sam." He smiled faintly, knowing that Lt. Tate meant something to Sam, that the two had some kind of connection that he might never fully understand. "But maybe it's for the best."

"Yeah…." Sam sighed heavily. "Maybe."

* * *

Ally was working at the front desk of her father's department store when the phone rang. She picked up the phone and said, "Hello, Samuels Clothing Store, this is Ally. How can I help you?" The smile she had on her face turned to a frown. "I told you not to call me here ….Yeah, I bet. ….Fine! …All right. ….But this better be good!" She nearly slammed the phone down.

"Someone trying to see you or something?' asked Piggy as he came from the back room carrying a box of shoes.

"Something like that." She sighed heavily as she rubbed her forehead, looking as though she was under a lot of stress.

"Anything I can do for you, Ally?"

"No. This one I actually need to do on my own." She smiled faintly. "But thanks for the offer. I just need you to watch the store for an hour while I go on break."

About twenty minutes later Ally walked into a small coffee shop. She looked around at the tables until her eyes fell upon the person she had come to meet. There waiting for her at one of the booths was Sky Tate, wearing a SPD uniform, but one that she hadn't seen before. It looked very different from the ones she would normally see. The young woman took a deep breath before she headed over to the table, knowing that her meetings with Sky didn't usually end well.

"Thanks for coming." Sky greeted Ally as she sat across from him. He knew this was a hard thing for her to be doing after all the things that had gone on between them. Sky knew he was the last person on the face of this Earth that she wanted to be seeing.

"You didn't give me much of a choice," she answered a little irritably. "What happened to your eye?" Ally asked, now noticing the mark on his eye, and that even the side of his lip looked a little banged up.

He wasn't sure if he should tell her this, but he figured she would find out sooner or later. Although he was surprised, to say the least, that until last night he had no idea there was a connection between Luc and Ally, at least now he understood why Luc always acted like he had a bone to pick with him. "That would be from your cousin Luc."

"Luc? He punched you?" If she were stunned by her little cousin's actions she didn't show it. "You must have really done something to piss him off, because he's not the type to throw the first punch." She waited to see if Sky would respond to that, but he never did. He just sat in his seat tumbling his thumbs together, as if he didn't want to get into why the punch had been thrown. "This is why you call me down here, because you and Luc got into it with each other? Because if that's-"

"No," answered Sky quickly, knowing if that had been the reason she would never let him hear the end of it. There had been another reason why he had called her down here. He took a deep breath, knowing she probably wouldn't like what he had to say, but felt it was important for her to know. "As you probably already noticed, I'm wearing a different uniform."

"Yeah." Ally nodded her head.

"This morning I went to see Supreme Commander Birdie and asked to join Elite Space Task Force." He looked her in the eyes, pausing for a brief moment before continuing on. "I'll be leaving Earth in a little more than an hour."

At first she didn't know why he was telling her this. It wasn't like he hadn't gone on missions in space before. Why would this time be any different? It was then, in that moment, when it hit her. The distant look in his eyes, the words that were hidden in what he was telling her. "You're not coming back, are you?"

"I don't know. I need to get away for a while." He pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket and slid it across the table. "And I want you to have this." He waited a few moments, waiting for her reaction. "I know it won't change things or undo all the mistakes and pain I caused you, but I want you to have it." He gave her a very faint smile, as he got up and slowly walked past her, looking into her eyes, as if it would be for the very last time. "Goodbye, Ally."

Ally sat there staring at the envelope, with Sky's final words still lingering on her mind. He really was doing this. He really was going to be leaving Earth, probably for good from the sound of his voice. She jumped from her seat, envelope in hand, and stormed after him. He hadn't gotten that far down the street when she spotted him and ran over to him, grabbing him by the shoulder. "So that's it, you're just going to take off, just like that?" she exclaimed. "Run away when things get too tough to deal with?"

"I need a change. You've said so yourself."

"Yes I did, but I wasn't talking about making your life more hectic than it already is. I meant for you to get your life back on track, take time off from SPD and stop drinking your problems away and then trying to score some girl," she exclaimed. "That is what I meant when you needed to get help, to make a change."

"SPD is the only thing I still have!" he shouted into her face, not liking her tone. "And I will not let anyone take that away from me."

"Yeah." Ally nodded her head disappointedly. "Because you'd rather die in that damn uniform going off on some dangerous mission than to let the people who give a damn about you get you some help."

"Last time I checked you weren't one of those people that gave a damn about what happens to me."

"That just shows how little you know!" she yelled into his face. She grabbed a hold of his hand and forcefully gave him back the envelope. "I don't want this, if this is just your way of tying up loose ends to make yourself feel better before you go off and get yourself _killed_!"

"Fine!" he snapped, as he stuffed it back in his jacket. "But now you can't say that I never tried to help you."

"You keep telling yourself that," she responded, as she did all she could do to hold all her emotions in. "If you want to go get yourself killed, be my guest." She angrily punched him in the shoulder before storming off in the opposite direction.

Sky watched her take off. He clenched his fists together, feeling the anger and fury pour over him, but not because of what she had said, but because of how he had handled it. When he had called Ally up his intention had not been to get in a big blowout argument with her, but because of his stubborn pigheaded prideful attitude that's what had happened. "Damnit!" he roared, as he punched the nearest brick wall. "Idiot!"

**An hour later**

Sky was in the docking bay packing up the weapons he would need and some other survival gear for a prolonged journey in space. He would be on call 24/7 and go wherever he was needed, and if for whatever reason he would do some investigation of his own. After last night and these past five years, he thought this was the best thing for everyone involved. He wasn't getting any better, only worse, and the more time that passed the more he hated himself and wanted to give up.

He had led Brooke on, and if Sam and the others hadn't shown up he knew things could have gone too far between them, further than a few kisses and flirting remarks. It was bad enough he had allowed that sort of thing to happen with complete strangers, but Brooke was a cadet, one of the officers he was in charge of. He was supposed to be someone who she could count on, but instead he had let her down. And then there was the thing with Luc, he had been ready to beat the shit out of him without so much as a thought. That's why he had to leave this place, before he made any more mistakes.

"Are you sure about this, Sky?" asked Cruger as he walked up to Sky, who had just put in the last of his packs. "Space can be a lonely place." He said it like he knew what he was talking about.

It had been the first time in a long time that Sky had heard concern in Cruger's voice towards him, almost as if the old Commander didn't want him to leave Earth. And maybe if things were different between them, Sky would give into Cruger's words. But things had been shaky between them for a while now; their relationship had become just a professional one. "That's what I need, sir," Sky announced as he turned around to face the old Commander. "I need to get away for a while, from this place, before I really screw things up."

Cruger wanted to know if something had happened last night that would have caused Sky to make this kind of decision, but deep down he knew even if nothing had happened they would have ended up here anyway. Kat had warned him they were losing Sky, but he hadn't wanted to hear it. He didn't want to deal with it. And he knew she had been right, he hadn't been able to forgive Sky for what had happened. Instead of being there for Sky when he needed him most, he had turned his back on him, no longer able to look at him with the respect he once had.

The old Commander sighed heavily. "Take it from an old dog that's been around for a long time, running away never solves anything."

Sky sighed heavily because he knew Cruger was right, running away never solved anything. That was one of the things his father had taught him, but his father wasn't here anymore and Cruger hadn't been someone he could count on for a long time. He knew he deserved every word Cruger had lashed out at him that horrible day, but that still didn't mean it hurt any less. "With all due respect, sir, I know what I'm doing." He didn't want Cruger's pity or his concern, he wanted nothing from him. "This is what's best for everyone."

It was in that moment Cruger realized just how much he had hurt Sky by pushing him away. Before that horrific day, the two might not have been the best of friends but at least there was the knowledge that if something was bothering Sky, that he could always come to him. They didn't even have that anymore. There was nothing more to say. "I respect your decision."

"Thank you, sir." Sky saluted his commanding officer and nodded his head.

Cruger just gave a quick nod before he turned around and started heading out of the docking bay. On his way out he passed Kat and the two shared a brief glance before Kat made her way over to Sky.

"So you really are going to do this," she announced softly, feeling that this was a very bad idea. It wasn't that she didn't trust Sky's ability as a Ranger, because she knew he was an amazing Ranger who would do whatever it took to protect and serve, just like his father.

"If you came here to try to talk me out of it, don't bother trying."

"The only one who could have already left." She knew there would be no use in her trying to get him to stay; for the past five years she had done all Sky would allow her to do.

"He didn't say he wanted me to stay." Sky stared at Kat for a few moments, knowing that this might be the last time he would see her in a long time. "Just face it, Kat, things with Cruger, they'll never be the same." He smiled faintly as he climbed into his flyer, when he remembered something. Kat stepped back, knowing there was nothing more she could say to Sky regarding Cruger. Sky wasn't the problem.

"Oh…" He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Kat. "In case …..In case something happens, can you make sure this get mailed to this address, along with my personal belongings in my room." He bit his lip. "I tried to do it earlier, but …I managed to screw that up."

Kat took the envelope, eyeing it for a moment before meeting his eyes. It was almost as if a secret that both of them had been keeping was finally known to the other, but in some way it wasn't so much a secret. "Sky…"

"Like you didn't already know." He licked his lips, not many knew his secret, but he had known for awhile now that Kat had known even though she had never said anything to him it had always been in her eyes. "Just promise me that'll you'll take it there."

She wanted to say, 'if you promise to come back,' but the words never came out. She smiled faintly. "I will." She paused for a moment as she looked into his distant eyes, feeling as though he was already gone. "Take care of yourself, Sky."

He never answered her, just gave a nod and a wave before he climbed all the way into the flyer. Once he was in his seat he closed the hatch and prepared the ship for takeoff. Kat stood back several feet, holding the envelope close to her, knowing it might be the last thing she would ever see of Sky. From the way he sounded, the look in his eyes, she knew there was a very good chance she would never see him again.

"Come back to us, Sky," she whispered, watching as Sky flew out of the docking bay, flying high into the bright blue sky, heading towards space. "And if not for us, for…."

* * *

Sam sat on a bench near the stone monument in remembrance of his friends. It was still fairly early for anyone else to be showing up, but a few other people were there out of respect. He still couldn't believe that it had been five years. It seemed just like yesterday when they all had come into his life. He owed his life to them and would always for the rest of his life be grateful for what they had done to save him. That had been why he had wanted so badly to save Sky, to return the favor in a way, but the former blue Ranger didn't want his help. He hadn't even wanted Sam to be his friend.

The new Omega Ranger bowed his head down, sighing heavily; a great amount of grief came over him. When Matt had told him about Sky and that he was going to be leaving soon, he had run to Sky's room only to find him not there. He had spent the better part of two hours trying to track him down, but hadn't been able to find him until it was too late. He sighed heavily as he looked up into the sky. "Come back, I don't care when and I don't care how, just come back."

Several feet away stood Doggie and Kat, who had gone to pay their respects to their fallen friends, but now it almost seemed that instead of it being four fallen Rangers, now it was five. Sky was gone. He wasn't dead, but he might just as well be, because that's what it felt like.

"You couldn't for one minute let go of that stubborn pride of yours and tell him that you didn't want him to go, that he was needed here," she announced harshly, as she eyed him. Her eyes then turned to the names on the monument. "They would have forgiven him and done everything in their power to keep him from leaving." And she wasn't finished; for five years she had waited for Cruger to let go of his anger and disappointment over what had happened. "Sky screwed up, he made a mistake. He trusted Dru, his best friend, the person you introduced him to." She smiled faintly, in a sad sort of way, as if she felt sorry for her old friend. "And you knew the year prior, before the rest of us, that Dru had turned - but you never said a thing."

Cruger never answered her or even acknowledged that she had said anything at all, but he had heard every word and knew deep down Kat was right. His reluctance to try to reach out to Sky had driven him away and now it was too late.


	9. Gone

It was late by the time Sam retired to his dorm. The four bells had already rung and the flames had gone out, all respects had been paid for those who had fallen five years before, but now with a more empty feeling. The eighteen-year-old sighed heavily as he sat down on his bed; it seemed strange that it was only a year ago today that Sky had told him he would train him, and had helped him become a Power Ranger. Sky had kept his word; Sam had heightened his skills and become a Power Ranger, just as he had said five years ago when he was just a boy entering the academy. The Rangers had gotten him a brand new bike...

_"I'll still see you guys around the academy, right?" asked the young boy, looking up to his friends as he proudly hung onto his bike._

_"You bet!" exclaimed Jack, as he gripped the boy's shoulders. "You're not going to get rid of us that easily."_

_Z bent down to eye level with him, looking him right in the face with a kind, comforting smile on her face. "And if you ever need anything, you can come to us."_

_"Yeah," added Syd with a bright smile on her face. "We're family and family helps each other out, no matter what." Syd turned to Sky, who was just standing tall with his arms crossed against his chest, acting all macho. "Isn't that right, Sky?" _

_Sky eyed her, almost frowning, and then met eyes with Sam in an almost intimidating way, but then gave the kid a faint smile. "Yeah. Any one messes with you has got to get through us first."_

_"Thanks, guys." Sam was overjoyed; it had been a long time since he had felt this way, that he belonged and that there were people who actually cared about him. And not because they had to, but because they wanted to._

_"And if I you ever need any help with your computer or making buttery toast, I'm your guy," said Bridge, as he smiled back at the boy._

_"Thanks. …I think," answered Sam, not too sure what to think of that._

Though his time of knowing them had been short, it seemed like he had known them a lifetime. They had taught him to trust people again; that not everyone was going to turn him away because he was different. He would carry them in his heart and know that no matter where he went, they would always be with him. Sam pulled his sheets back and was about to climb in bed when he found a folded piece of paper with his name on it. Curious, he picked it up and unfolded it. His eyes lit up. It was from _Sky._

_Dear Sam,_

_By the time you get this letter I will have already left Earth. I know it must have hurt you that I left without saying goodbye ….believe me I know what it feels like. I just couldn't say goodbye to you. I want you to know that I'm proud of you. You accomplished your goal of becoming a Ranger and have turned out to be a courageous young man, one that I'm honored to have known. I know you and the other Rangers will do a great job of protecting the city, which is why I knew that I could leave Earth and not have to worry about anything happening to it. _

_I know you may never understand my reasons for leaving. I don't expect you to. These last few years have been hard; everyday I see what happened to the others playing over in my mind. And I've become this person that I can't even look at in the mirror. I've hurt a lot of people and I just can't keep going on like that. That's why I had to get away, from this place, from Earth, get as far as I could get. I don't know when or if I will ever return. Take care of yourself, Sam, and thanks for trying._

_Sky_

Sam folded the letter back up and set it on his nightstand. The empty feeling of Sky having not said goodbye to him seemed to be lifted slightly by the letter, but he still did feel a little numb not knowing whether or not he would ever see Sky again. The only thing he could do was hold out hope that someday Sky would return home, hopefully sooner than later.

The next day Luc walked into his uncle's store while he was out on break. He had been patrolling the city alone, while the rest of his teammates were out on a training exercise with D-squad. It had only been a few days since his blowout with Sky, which would later result in Sky leaving Earth. During those past few days he had been keeping his distance from Sam, not ready to talk to him about what had happened.

* * *

Luc found Piggy working at the front desk; he walked up to him. "Hey, is Ally here?"

"Yes," Piggy answered, cocking his head. "But I don't think she wants to see you right now. She's in one of her _moods_."

Luc just laughed and shook his head. "What?" Not having the slightest idea why Ally wouldn't want to see him, the two were practically like brother and sister. "She mad at me or something?"

"You could say that."

"Just go get her, pig breath," answered Luc almost annoyingly, no longer wanting to play this charade with Piggy, knowing all too well that his cousin's strange friend could go at it all day if he wanted.

"You're lucky I don't resent that remark," replied Piggy as he headed into the back room to get Ally while Luc leaned against the counter, waiting for her to arrive. A moment later Ally came walking out of the back room.

"When are you going to hire some better help around this place? Doesn't he scare away the customers?"

"Piggy may be annoying and a bit disgusting, but apart from that I don't have any issues with him working here." She answered like she was in a rush, as she checked on some of the sale listings on the computer. "Was there something you needed, Luc? I'm kind of busy."

"Did I do something to upset you?" he asked, not knowing why Ally seemed to be giving him the cold shoulder. "Because if this is what I said about Piggy, I was only joking."

"No. This has nothing to do with Piggy," she answered harshly.

_Boy, Piggy wasn't kidding when he said she was moody._ "Then why are you pissed? I haven't seen you in a few weeks, so I don't know what I did that could have pissed you off-" And then it came to him, there was only one thing he had done that could have set her off, but why was beyond him. "It's about _him,_ isn't it? You're pissed off at me that I got into it with him."

"No, it has _nothing_ to do with him either! And I'm not mad at you," exclaimed Ally as she stormed towards the back room just as Piggy was coming out carrying a couple of shoe boxes to display.

"Yeah, right!" exclaimed Luc, as he took off after her. "You're mad at me; otherwise you wouldn't be taking off."

"Fine!" She turned to face him, walking around him and closing the back room door. "I am pissed off at both of you right now. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"What the hell are you pissed at me for?" Luc threw up his arms, not knowing why she would be so ticked at him, especially when what Sky had done was ten times worse. "I thought you would be happy, that I gave him what he deserved."

"You think that makes me happy?" she exclaimed.

"It doesn't? After what he did, how he hurt you." Luc couldn't believe it; this was totally the opposite of how he would have thought she would be reacting. "I thought I would be doing you a favor, standing up to that bastard for what he did."

She looked her little cousin hard in the eyes, as she crossed her arms against her chest. "We talked about this, Luc, the whole family: that if we allowed you to go to SPD that you would not get into it with Sky."

"Yeah, well, plans change," answered Luc as he crossed his arms against his chest acting like he was top dog. "The guy was being a dickhead, and if I didn't give him one of my right hooks then Brooke could have ended up just like you."

"Don't give yourself so much credit; we both know that Brooke wasn't the real reason you took a swing at him. You saw that he was vulnerable and saw your opportunity." Years go, she knew that Luc wanted to rip Sky apart even as a teenager, which was one of the reasons why her father, his mother and she had sat down with him, wanting to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid that would get him kicked out of the academy.

Deep down Luc knew she was right, it could have been any other girl, or it could have been just Sky alone and he still would have taken a swing at him. "Fine. You're right, I wanted to hit him. I wanted to make him pay, so bad," he admitted. "And it felt damn good when my fist connected with his face."

"I didn't ask you to, Luc. In fact I asked you not to get into it at all with him."

"Ally, come on-"

"No, Luc! He is your commanding officer," she shouted, as she looked him hard in the eyes. "I know that means something to you; for a guy that's lived on military bases his whole life, that was a stupid thing to do." She knew far too well that her cousin knew better than to get into it with a higher ranking officer. "You're lucky that Sky didn't bring up the incident with Commander Cruger."

Luc almost had to laugh at that last statement. "We both know he wouldn't have said a word to Cruger." He eyed her carefully, knowing full well Cruger had no clue what had gone on between Sky and Ally. Ally turned away and started just randomly rummaging through boxes. "And why does it seem that you're defending this guy? I thought you would be happy that he was gone, out of your life, so you would never have to deal with him again." He walked around until he was able to look at her face to face. "What, do you care about that asshole or something?" She didn't answer him right away, but the look in her eyes gave him his answer. "You do!" he exclaimed, not believing it. He shook his head. "I cannot believe this."

"You wouldn't understand, Luc." It was too hard and difficult to explain. Yes, she did care what happened to Sky, despite what had happened between them and how much he had hurt her, she cared. She didn't have much of a choice but to care, if she could erase him from her mind she would, but she didn't have the luxury of doing that.

"I wouldn't understand!" He was starting to get sick and tired of hearing that. "Sam fed me that same bullshit when he stopped me from beating up that creep!" Luc, frustrated, banged his fist against the wall. "I don't get it with you two; Tate practically ignores Sam and crushed you, but yet you two defend him. Why?"

"Don't be taking any of this out on Sam!" announced Ally, she would not let Sam take any falls, not for her and not for Sky. "He has been through enough. There are just some things you don't know, because you won't take the time to let it register through that thick skull of yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You know, it's a shame Sky and you didn't get along, because the two of you are a lot alike," declared Ally as she brushed past her cousin's shoulder. "Both of you are too damn stubborn for your own good." Before she opened the door to exit out of the back room she turned to face her cousin once more. "And you better work things out with Sam. That kid doesn't need to be losing any more friends. Once you've worked things out with him, then you can come and talk to me."

"Fine!" answered Luc out of his frustration.

"…And one more thing, for the record I don't need you trying to defend my honor. I will handle my problems with Sky on my own." She looked him right in the eyes. "Is that understood?"

Luc crossed his arms against his chest. "Crystal."

* * *

Cruger stood alone outside in front of the monument. This was not the first time this base had lost Rangers. Twenty years before they had lost two, both lives taken by Mirloc. That too had been a sad day, as well. He had thought he would never have to go through a loss like that, but in the business he worked in life and death were part of the job. Whether you were an officer or a Ranger, the risks were the same. A life could be taken at any moment, but he truly had thought that these four would last years, live on to have lives of their own outside of the academy, have families of their own. But that would never happen. He still to this day remembered the call he had gotten from Kat. He had been away on a conference at the Galactic Base when…..

_Cruger, Birdie and other commanders of the surrounding planets were gathered around a table, discussing SPD related issues, when a cadet came rushing in, in an almost frantic matter. He took a moment to look around the room until his eyes met with Cruger's._

_"Commander Cruger, you have an urgent message from Earth, from a Dr. Manx," he announced._

_"Cadet, couldn't this wait until we are finished with our meeting?" asked Birdie, very irritated that the cadet had interrupted them. _

_"No, I'm sorry, sir." His face almost turned white as a ghost, a sickly feeling had come over him. "She said it couldn't wait. It's about the Rangers, sir…."_

_And that's when everything had happened in slow motion, every piece he could remember, from getting up from his seat to following the cadet to the communications room, where he spoke with Kat._

_"Kat, what's wrong?" he asked, almost shaking, as if a part of him already knew deep down inside but would not believe it until he heard it with his own ears, but his ears needed not to hear because the look in her eyes was enough._

_"They're gone, Doggie….."She cried, tears streaming down her face. "Jack…. Bridge….. Syd….. and Z."_

And the one remaining survivor, who took and held in all the guilt of their deaths, he had pushed away long ago. He had been far too hard on Sky, who had already been all too hard on himself. That combined with the weight he had put on Sky had been far too much for the young man to handle, too much for anyone to handle. It was no wonder Sky had to leave; he just couldn't live with himself anymore.

_He and Sky were in the Command Center. He'd had to lecture Sky in the past, but never like this. His once prized cadet, that he had so much hope for, just stood there, his head bowed down with grief. "I have never been more disappointed with you than I am today. This was the worst possible time for your selfishness and your arrogance. Your actions were careless, reckless, and irresponsible…. I cannot be held responsible for what you allowed to happen, I won't! This is on you…."_

_"Yes, sir…" Sky answered, never meeting his commander's eyes._

Like a good solider, Sky had taken his harshness well, too well. It had been from that moment on that his relationship with Sky had changed dramatically. He still could hear Kat's words, just minutes after Sky had left the command center with his head down, echoing in his mind.

_"Don't you think you were too hard on him?" asked Kat, who had stood there to watch the whole thing unfold. _

_"If anything, I wasn't hard enough on him. I could have thrown him in containment for what he did to Mirloc and Wootox."_

_"He needs you, Doggie, now more than ever. You're the closest thing he has to a father."_

_Cruger eyed her cautiously. "I am his commanding officer and nothing more," he responded. "I am not in a position right now to be anything more to him, not after today."_

The old commander sighed heavily, knowing he had done wrong by Sky. He had let his anger get the better of him. "You were right, I was too harsh on him," announced Cruger, feeling a shadow behind him, an all too familiar shadow.

"Whether you were or not, Sky still would have put too much on himself."

"Probably." Cruger knew that Sky always expected too much out of himself, always working himself above and beyond what he was supposed to. He turned to face Kat. "But if I had been there for him like you asked me to, then maybe he wouldn't have felt he had to leave."

* * *

Sam and Matt were in their room resting quietly, just listening to music and each reading a book, when Luc entered into their room, catching both of their eyes momentarily. Though he was still plenty upset with Sam, he would do what his cousin asked of him and at least talk to him, try to understand where he was coming from.

"Hey, Matt, could you give Sam and me a moment alone?"

Matt looked at Sam briefly, making sure his roommate was all right with it. "Yeah. Sure, I'll go see what the girls are doing."

Once Matt left, Luc walked over to Matt's bed and sat down so he was across from Sam. Neither one said a word to the other for several seconds; an awkwardness was felt between both of them, which was a strange feeling when they used to be pretty good friends.

"How've you been?" Luc finally spoke up, knowing now it was now or never. He couldn't have this strain in his relationship with Sam as long as they were Rangers. Deep down he knew in order for them to be successful as a team, they needed to trust each other one hundred percent.

"I've been okay," answered Sam, feelingly slightly better now that Luc was talking to him again, but he wasn't sure if things could go back to the way they were before. "You?"

"Not bad."

Sam nodded his head; he wanted to get this out. "Luc, look, I never meant to hurt you or any of the others." He bit his lips, almost shrugging his shoulders. "I just felt like I owed it to Sky."

"Why?" Luc asked. "You said I wouldn't understand, but I need to. I need to know why you would waste your time trying to help him."

Sam sighed heavily. "When I was a kid, before I came to the academy, he and his friends saved my life. If it hadn't been for them, I don't know where I would be." He paused for a moment, because this was hard for him, thinking about his past and the briefest of time that he had befriended those who had been like him. "The six of us shared a connection that no one else did. We had all gotten our abilities from the same place. For the first time in my whole life, I felt like I belonged, but then…"

"The other Rangers died on that training planet."

Sam nodded his head. "Yeah. I didn't know them long, but in the short time that I had known them, it felt like a lifetime."

"Is that why you and Sky are close?"

Sam bowed his head down sighing. "Truthfully, we're really not close at all." He looked up to meet Luc's eyes. "After the others died, he pushed me away. He blames himself for what happened, so much that he does some stupid things. I've tried to be there for him, but I guess he feels like he doesn't deserve to have friends." He hoped that this would help to make Luc understand where he was coming from, why he felt so compelled to help Sky. "I think he just wants it to be over with, so he doesn't have to feel anything."

He might hate Sky's guts and want nothing more than to rip him apart, but Luc could see where his young friend was coming from. Sam had no family, so when Sky and the other Rangers entered into his life he found a connection with them, one that banded them together as a family. After the murders of the other Rangers that bond had been broken and torn apart. Sam had tried to hold it together, but Sky had drawn away. Luc let out a sigh, now understanding what Ally was talking about. Sam had been through a lot and he didn't need any more heartache. "I'm sorry, Sam, for being an ass."

"And I'm sorry that Sky hurt Ally." Sky might not have answered his question, but Sam knew he had put the pieces together to know exactly what had happened between Ally and Sky. He put out his hand to Luc. "Friends?"

"Always." Luc gripped the young redhead's hand, with hopes that he and the others would be able to fill that void that Sam had lost years ago.

* * *

Sky leaned back against his seat, letting out a heavy sigh. It had been days since he had left SPD, Earth, his home, a place that years ago he never thought he would ever leave indefinitely. He looked out the window, seeing only stars, Earth no longer within his grasp. Nothing was left for him there, anything that was, was no longer there for him, whether by a vicious act or by his own poor choice of actions.

His friends, his teammates, were all dead. His father had died years ago; as for the rest of his family he hadn't seen them in years. Dru was no longer the friend he had known and maybe he never really had been. Sam and Kat, who both tried with all their might to help him through his pain, he kept pushing them away not wanting their pity, because some part of him wanted to be punished. Then there was Ally, which was more complicated. He had opened up to her about everything, but in the end blew it. It came to the point where every word that came out of his mouth only ended up hurting her. And after the others diedthings were never the same between him and Cruger, they might not have been close to begin with, but after the others died the old Commander didn't look at him the same, didn't trust him the same. And he really couldn't blame him, he didn't trust himself.

He had let everyone down. He had failed SPD, his teammates, the commander, himself and most importantly he had failed his father, his legacy. None of this had been part of his plan when he had entered into the academy, it had never even crossed his mind that he could lose anyone from his team …even though he had known from firsthand experience that it could happen.

Sky turned away from the window and looked down at the control panel, eyes zeroed in on the communications control that kept him in contact with the command bases. He slowly reached out his hand, putting his fingers around the switch. "Sorry guys, but after all the shit I pulled, there's no place for me there." He switched it off, cutting off commutations; no one could contact him and he couldn't contact anyone.

Sky sighed heavily as he looked back up at the open space in front of him. The universe was before him and he was ready for it. He was ready to start a new chapter in his life, hoping to put the old one behind him. The young Ranger was sure there were plenty of dirty and shady characters out in the open universe that he could track down and bring to justice, the ones that everyone else was afraid to find. He would find them and make them pay for their crimes. He would become the lone Ranger. "Hide while you still can, because your day of reckoning has finally come!" Sky set the ship into hyper-speed and he was gone in an instant.

**Elsewhere……**

A young man woke up in a fright in the darkened room, his heart pounding rapidly against his chest and a cool layer of sweat covering his body. He pressed his fingers against the temple of his head, as if he were feeling some sort of pain.

"Sweetie?" The body next to him started to move and come up from the covers; her hand reached up, gently stroking his cheek. "Is everything all right?"

He put his hand down and leaned over to her, smiling lovingly at her. "Everything is fine. It was just a dream." He gave her a light kiss on the lips.

"Okay," she answered tiredly as she closed her eyes, letting sleep settle back in.

The young man sighed heavily as he lay back down in his girlfriend's bed, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, his eyes were wide open and his mind was wandering all over the place.


	10. Vengeances

**Authors note:** I'm taking a bit of a different take on Icthior character from the episode 'Badge'. If you don't remember, he was the sword fighter that used to trained with Cruger at the academy, year ago before SPD came to earth, he was later kicked out of the academy.

* * *

It had been over two weeks since he had left to start his new life, tracking down some of the most violent and hideous of criminals in the deeps of space. He had already hunted down three high risk fugitives and would only stay in one place for hours at a time. Right now he was in a bar on a planet called Zeelatta, a planet far different from Earth. It was filled with other space travelers, some just your average alien star pilot; most of them were bounty hunters and traders, while others were spies. But no matter who any of them were, none of them trusted SPD, in fact it was a known issue that anyone bearing the SPD logo could be killed on the spot the moment they stepped foot inside a place that was not grounds for SPD. Sky made sure to hide his ship and disguised his badges before entering into the Zeelatta bar.

"You're a long way from home," hissed the lizard-like bartender, as he handed Sky a strange drink. "We don't get many Earthlings around here."

Sky eyed him cautiously, one hand around the glass of the drink and the other down below near his belt where his harness held his blaster. "What makes you so sure I'm from Earth and not from Eltar or KO-35?"

That got a laugh out of the lizard as he leaned against the bar, breathing his hot breath into Sky's face. "Because no Karovian or Eltarian would dare venture out of their galaxies, out of the safety net of their _precious _SPD!" He gave Sky a coy smile. "Only an Earthling would be stupid enough or must have a death wish to have come this far."

Sky took a sip of the strange colored drink, making sure to keep his eyes locked on the lizard. "I'm not like most Earthlings."

The lizard laughed, finding Sky's answer amusing. He definitely was different from any of the other humans he had crossed. "I like you, kid …and I don't normally like humans."

"Can't say I've ever been a fan of lizards."

The lizard native of Zeelatta grinned, it was rare to find a human that didn't scare away from him. Most times, they would come in for a quick drink and leave soon after, but not this guy. "You're a funny one." In a quick motion he put out his hand. "You can call me Dex."

Sky eyed the hand, while his right hand crept around his blaster. He knew he was in unsafe territory and that he really should trust no one, but Dex seemed harmless enough, not anyone he would consider to be a threat. He'd faced off against far worse things than the lizard bartender. "Tate," Sky answered as he brought up his hand to shake Dex's.

"Tate, huh?" Dex's greenish-yellow eyes turned down on Sky, as if he were measuring him up. "One hell of a grip you got there. You aren't with SPD, are you?"

"No." Sky took a sip of his drink, keeping his eyes locked with Dex's.

"Good, otherwise I've would have to kill yah," he smirked, as he went and poured himself a drink. "So what's a kid like you doing out in a place like this; don't you humans have strong bonds with your families?"

"Not everyone." Sky finished his drink and nodded to Dex to fill it up.

"Hmmm." Dex filled up the drink, but kept looking into Sky's eyes in such a way that it was like he was looking right through him. "You know, you can know a lot by looking into a man's eyes," he said as he took a drink from his glass, leaning against the bar. "Take that old bounty hunterover there." He pointed over to an older looking creature that looked half rhino and moose, big and bold, lots of muscle. "He's been coming in here ten years and every time I look into his eyes, I see a hunter, a killer."

"I would say that's very predictable, since he's a bounty."

Dex laughed. "Ha ha, all right you got me there." He leaned against the bar cunningly. "How about you? Your eyes say that you're running away from something." He smirked, taking a drink. "Probably why you left your home." He paused briefly, watching as Sky's fingers gripped tightly around the drink. "Something bad happened, didn't it?"

"Do you always like getting into everyone's business or am I just an exception?" Sky frowned, not liking how personal the lizard creature was getting. It had been over two weeks, he was just finally starting to get far enough away where he could put everything behind him, or at least not have to think about it anymore.

"But I'm right just the same," Dex answered sharply, as he filled up Sky's drink before turning away from him and heading into the back room.

Sky just shook his head and took a sip of his drink, savoring it, knowing once he finished it he would have to head back to his ship and depart back into space, where he would once again be alone. He had cut off all ties with SPD, he was basically MIA, he had turned off his communication and disabled the tracking system so the base would not know where he was. That had been his plan, but somewhere in his time in space, he realized they would never really let him go unless he let them go first. He couldn't go home and he didn't want anyone to come after him, although a part of him would always wonder about what he left behind, even though….

"Those space nomads had no idea what they were getting into," laughed Booker, a fishfaced looking alien, as he and his brother Zonk entered into the bar and sat at a table behind Sky.

"Yes, he sure showed them. They're lucky, he only cut off their hands." Zonk smirked as he took a fistful of buggy looking treats from a bowl on the table. "Icthior is one man you don't want to cross."

Sky couldn't help but overhear their conversation. It had just been something he had picked up on his journey travel through space, stopping from planet to planet, most times nothing ever really registered. He didn't really care, but this time their conversation sparked his interest. "Icthior?" It was impossible; it couldn't be the same Icthior he had known years ago. He was dead. …Or at least that's what he had been told. He had died twenty years ago.

"Yeah. Take those two humans for instance, Icthior's old partners from SPD," laughed Booker.

"Oh yeah, the ones he got killed," he smirked. "I would have paid to see the looks of their faces when they learned he betrayed them."

Sky tightened his hand hard around the glass, causing it to shatter. He couldn't believe it; not only was Icthior alive, but he had played a hand in getting his father killed. Icthior had been an SPD officer, had fought crime side by side with his father for three years, he had even come to his home as a child, now he learned the man who was supposed to be his father's friend had betrayed him, gotten him killed. He could feel the anger and hatred fuming over him. He wanted Icthior, _he_ wanted him to pay.

He jumped off his chair and headed straight to the fish brothers, pressing both of his hands onto of the table. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation about Icthior," announced Sky. "I was hoping you could tell me where I could find him."

Booker remained cool and collected in his chair, not at all frightened by the human standing before him. "Where I come from, human, we cut off the ears of eavesdroppers. Didn't your mother ever teach you it was rude to listen in to other people's conversations?"

"What's a human want with Icthior anyways?" questioned Zonk. "You owe him money or something?" Both he and his brother got a laugh out of that, they always enjoyed getting a good laugh at any of the humans they crossed paths with.

"More like he owes me," answered Sky sharply, looking both of them in the eye, not backing down. He would not leave this bar until he got his answers; one way or another they were going to tell him.

"He owes you, huh?" questioned Booker as he measured Sky up, getting up from his seat. In a quick motion he drew out his large blaster gun and pulled the trigger, but to his disbelief Sky protected himself with his shield, deflecting the shot, causing it to shatter a window in front of him.

"What the-" Zonk jumped from his seat, turning his head around towards the broken window, then turned back looking at Sky.

"Next time I won't be so nice," Sky announced as he pulled out his blaster, pointing it at the two. "Where is Icthior?"

"How'd he do that?" exclaimed Zonk.

"Chill, Zonk," Booker pushed his brother aside as he got face to face with Sky. "He won't do anything stupid, not with a bar full of aliens of all kinds that would just love to get a piece of him." He smirked, looking Sky right in the eyes. "I know what you are." He leaned closer to Sky ear and whispered, "…SPD." He stepped back. "And if you think that fancy shield of yours will be enough to take down Icthior, think again." Booker knew all too well just how powerful the ex-SPD officer was. "You're not strong enough to handle someone like him."

"Then you don't know me that well," Sky smirked, not at all intimidated by Booker's announcement. He kept his eyes locked on the fish brothers. "Who do you think blew the brains out of Mirloc and Wootox?"

Booker had to laugh at that. "You think just because you took out those two that you stand a chance? Then you're more pathetic than I thought." He crossed his arms against his chest. "Half of the aliens in this bar could have handled those worms."

He could feel the fury flowing through him because neither Mirloc nor Wootox were worms in his eyes, they had been monsters, they cared nothing for life. He had lost people he cared about because of them. The two had destroyed everything that ever mattered. "You going to tell me or not?"

"Not!" announced Booker cunningly. "No way I'd ever help no human!"

"Sorry you feel that way." Sky jumped, kicking Booker's blaster out of his hand before he could even react, then grabbing a hold of him and tossing him onto one of the tables, causing it to collapse. He walked over to Booker who was lying flat on his back. He pointed his blaster right at the fishfaced brother. "Last chance."

Booker just smirked. "Foolish human." Unbeknown to Sky, Zonk had crept up behind him and wrapped his strong fisted fins around Sky's arms.

Sky struggled to get free; he couldn't believe he had been so stupid as to forget about the other brother. He watched in anger as Booker jumped to his feet and taunting him. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" he hissed into the red Ranger's face as other aliens in the bar started to surround them, all of them looking like they were ready for a fight. "You're forgetting that you're out of your boundaries, SPD doesn't apply here." His big shining eyes darted right at Sky. "You're fair game as far as I'm concerned." Booker punched Sky hard in the gut, causing him to drop to the ground.

Sky felt winded and dizzy; in his determination to seek out Icthior he had underestimated his opponent. He felt Booker grab a hold of him and toss him around the room like he was a rag doll, breaking tables, chairs and glasses.

"What the hell is going on here!" exclaimed Dex as he came rushing out of the backroom, wondering what all the commotion was about. "Somebody better have a good reason for damaging my bar!"

"Chill out, Dexie, seems we have an unwanted visitor here." He peered his eyes over to Sky who was slowly pushing himself up; he had a small cut on the side of his cheek. "He's SPD…"

Sky met eyes with Dex, the bartender who he had seemed to have befriended only minutes ago. Something told him that _friendship_ wouldn't last long. A coy smile came across Dex's face. "Well in that case, as you were." He locked eyes with Booker. "Just try not to get his human waste all over; otherwise you'll be mopping the floor this time! It took me ten years to get the stench out the last time." Dex departed back into the back room, without a care in the world. "Sorry, kid, but I told you I don't like SPD here in my bar."

"I'm going to enjoy this!" exclaimed Booker, as he and the other fleet of frightening aliens surrounded Sky, pounding their fists and weapons together, getting ready to rearrange his face.

Finally having regained his composure, Sky jumped to his feet, getting into a fighting stance. He knew he was outnumbered big time, but he didn't care. If it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight he would give them. "You picked the wrong guy to mess with!" He got into a fighting stance and fully intended on taking them all on, until it was like a stampede, Booker and his alien companions started flying all over the place as the rhino-moose bounty hunter stormed right into them as if they were nothing but bowling pins.

Sky didn't know what to make of it and he had little time to react as the bounty picked him up over his shoulder and fled out of the bar, as several blaster shots were being shot right at them. Once they were in the clear, the bounty dropped Sky hard onto the ground.

"What the hell! You shouldn't have done that, you bastard! They had information I needed," Sky roared, as he jumped to his feet. He was about to take a swing at the bounty, when the bounty hunter grabbed a hold of his wrist twisting it behind his back, making it impossible for Sky to break through his tight hold on him.

"And how do you suppose you were going to get it, you arrogant fool?" He held on a few moments longer, until he finally released Sky, pushing him back against a tree.

"I had the situation under control!"

"Yes. I could see that." He glared Sky in the eyes, just shaking his head. He knew all too well that the young man before him didn't have a clue to what he had been up against, or if he did he was too stubborn to care. "If I hadn't stepped in you'd be in a thousand pieces by now."

Sky just shook his head in disbelief. "I could have handled things just fine, without you stepping in and screwing things up for me."

"You got your head so far up your ass that you couldn't see you were in a losing fight!" reamed the bounty hunter.

"I don't care. I want to find Icthior."

"Forget about Icthior!" exclaimed the bounty hunter, hoping to get through Sky's thick skull to knock some sense into him. "Go to your ship, turn around and go home. You don't belong outside the boundaries of your SPD. It's not safe out here"

"I'm not going home," exclaimed Sky, crossing his arms against his chest and looking the bounty hard in the eyes with that stubborn attitude of his. "You'll have to kill me first." And he meant it, the only way he would go home now was in a body bag.

The bounty hunter couldn't believe it, never had he met a more arrogant human than the one before him. "You must really want to die." It was clear to him that the young man before him didn't give a care in the world whether he lived or died. He probably should take his life, it would be a far quicker death than Icthior would give the young human. He could stand there all day trying to get through to him, but it would be a waste of his time. "Do what you want," he said, as he started to back away. "But the fish brothers weren't lying about Icthior. He is one skilled fighter who will fight to the death. If you go up against him, you'd better be ready to kill him." He paused for a moment, locking his eyes with Sky once more. "Before he kills you."

"I plan on it!" answered Sky.

**Back on Earth**

"Radar!" hollered the children in the hospital room, as a young man no more than twenty walked into the room of about six kids, all with some sort of illness. Two of them had hopped out of their beds and ran over to him.

The young man picked the young girl up and patted the little boy on the head as he made his way into the room, locking eyes with the student nurse. He smiled as she winked at him. "So my name's Radar now, huh?" he asked as he set the little girl Maggie on her bed, as the other children crowded around them.

"Yeah, because you're the best at finding everyone when we play hide n'seek," announced the boy. "No one can hide from you, can they?"

He smiled. "Few have tried."

"Radar, do you have time to play with us today?" asked another little boy, as he tugged at the young man's pants.

"Sorry, buddy." He picked the boy up. "I can only stay for a couple of minutes, but I promise that I will make some time later, okay?" He set the boy back down on the ground and patted him on the shoulder.

"Okay." The young boy smiled, as he admired his hero.

"Radar!" Maggie, the little six year old stood up on her bed, placing her hands on 'Radar's' chest.

"Yes, Princess?"

"If Nurse Kris wasn't your girlfriend, would you marry me?" she asked all wide-eyed.

Kris's boyfriend glanced over at her, smiling, as he looked little Maggie back in the eyes and planted a kiss on her forehead. "You bet your heart, my girl, I would and we would live in a big house, with lots of toys and puppies."

"Yeah!" Maggie hugged him tightly, as he kissed the top of her head.

"Okay, kids. I got to get going, but I want you all to promise me that you'll be good for Kris."

"We promise!" they all answered.

"Good." He waved goodbye to all of them as he headed towards the door with Kris following him out. Outside the room in the halls of the hospital, he put his arms around Kris and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"It's a shame you didn't have any younger brothers or sisters, you're pretty good with them."

"Well then, I guess it's a good thing that we'll be having lots of kids."

"Oh, will we now?" she playfully answered, as she looked him in the eyes "Will that be after or before I finish nursing school, not to mention the fact we have to get married first and since you haven't proposed, that might be a while."

"Oh yeah, right." He grinned as he playfully kissed her on the nose. "That's why you're the brains of this relationship."

She had to laugh, she couldn't help it; there was just something about him that always made her laugh. "You're lucky you're so cute with the kids, otherwise I would be looking for someone else." she grinned.

"And I thought you were with me for some other reason," he laughed.

"Griffin!" she yelled, as she playfully punched him in his side.

"Kidding …I'm kidding." He smiled, as ran his hand through her hair, then running it down her arm until he took her hand into his, looking her in the eyes, with all the love he held in his heart. "I'll see you tonight for dinner." He leaned down and gave her a loving kiss.

* * *

"Sir, I just got some troubling news," announced Kat as she walked into the Command Center. Her face was white as a ghost, because she knew no good would come from it. "Sky has gone after Icthior…"

"Icthior?" It had been over twenty years since he had heard the name or had even thought of the former SPD officer. He had long hoped that he was dead and the last words of a dying officer had been untrue, but now that hope had been shattered. Icthior had indeed betrayed them. And with Sky knowing the truth, Cruger knew that he would go after the rogue SPD officer, seeking vengeance for the death of his father. "Does he know his whereabouts?"

"My source said no, but it would only be a matter of time." She sighed heavily, knowing the situation was grave. She remembered Icthior and knew he was one hell of a fighter, one of the academy's best. "I've tried contacting Sky, but the communication on the ship is still turned off and he cut the tracking system on the ship, so we have no clue where he's headed."

"Where is he now?"

Kat's face turned grim. "He left Zeelatta just a few hours ago, after that my friend lost track of him."

"That's in the Mecka galaxy." His face became very concerned. "That's a lawless territory." It was rare that he ever became alarmed about anything, but this scared him to death. The old commander could feel his heart pounding against his chest, because he knew no one entered into that part of the galaxy, not unless they didn't want to be found. It was one of the most dangerous areas in the universe. "If he finds Icthior, he won't survive." He knew all too well what kind of fighter Icthior was. Back in the early days of the academy, the two had trained together, long and hard hours, trained in the deadly arts. The combat form had been so dangerous that it was later banned and was not to be taught to anyone else, only a very few were alive today who still had the training for it.

"I know, but without the ship's trackers, we'll never be able to find him," Kat answered. "I've tried everything." Even with all her training and hacker tricks, she had not been able to find any lock on Sky's ship.

"…There's only one person who can find him now," sighed Cruger. His face was grim, like he didn't want to turn to this solution, but deep down knew they didn't have any other choice.

"We both know that _she_ won't like that one bit, and he'll probably feel the same way," answered Kat, knowing all too well who Cruger was referring to. It had even crossed her mind, while she was walking down the halls of the academy, but she knew that it would not be an easy task bringing him here.

"I know," he sighed. Years ago he had made a mistake, one that tore apart a bond that should have never been broken. "But we don't have any other choice." He eyed Kat in the eyes, no smile on his face, as if he was finally coming to terms with his own mistakes. "He's our only hope."


	11. Human Detector System

"You wanted to see us, sir!" exclaimed Luc, as both he and Sam saluted Commander Cruger. Only moments ago they had heard both of their names called over the intercom, requesting both of them to report to Commander Cruger in the command center.

"Yes, I did." His face was grim, because he knew time might not be something they had, and they needed to move yesterday. He sighed heavily, knowing that it might be difficult for Sam to hear. "I'm afraid I have some troubling news …Lt. Tate is MIA."

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Sam almost frantically. It had been weeks since Sky's departure, in which time he had held out hope that Sky would return, but in the back of his mind he was afraid something like this could happen.

"He has not made contact in weeks, and Kat has lost his signal." He paused briefly, knowing that wasn't the half of it. "And it's believed he's gone after an extremely dangerous fugitive."

"Lt. Tate's been up against dangerous guys before," announced Luc, thinking nothing of it.

"Not like this," replied Cruger.

"So you want to send the team and me to go out in space to go look for him." Though he didn't care much for Sky, he did like the idea of going out into space on a rescue mission.

"No. I need for you and Sam to go to see the Silver Guardians in Silver Hills, and bring me a young man known as Griffin, he will be going into space to look for Sky."

"You got to be kidding me," exclaimed Luc, not believing what he had just heard. "You want us to go to Silver Hills and bring back some half-pint?"

"Yes, Cadet Wilder!" hissed Cruger, not at all pleased with the response he had gotten from the young cadet. "He is the only one who can locate Lt. Tate fast enough."

"Fast enough…" Sam could feel his heart racing; a feeling of concern went over him. "Commander, are you saying that there's a chance that something could have happened to Sky?"

Cruger didn't want to answer the question, but Sam wasn't some little boy he could protect anymore. He needed to be truthful with him, because he knew there was a strong possibility that none of them would ever see Sky again. "Yes, Sam, he won't survive this one; that's why I need Griffin to be brought here."

It was a rare thing to see Cruger get that worrisome look on his face, in fact Luc could not remember a time he had ever seen it. He knew right then and there this was serious, and whether he liked it or not he needed to follow orders and bring whoever this Griffin was to the base. "We'll bring him back here, sir."

"Good, because you'll have your work cut out for you." He knew it would not be an easy task to convince the young man to set foot upon the base.

After Sam and Luc departed, Kat entered into the Command Center. She could tell right away that Cruger was not doing so well. And he had every reason to be concerned, Sky was in danger and the only one that might be able to find him was not on good terms with Cruger, which could make it very difficult to convince him to come to the base.

"It's been a long time, maybe-"

"No." Cruger stopped her, shaking his head, knowing all too well that Griffin hadn't forgotten. "Time may have passed, but that won't change how he feels towards me. I just hope that he'll hear them out."

"Well, you did send the right two cadets to convince him." She knew that Luc would push and when that didn't work, Sam would do everything in his power to get Griffin to come back with them.

* * *

"What are we stopping here for, Commander Cruger said we needed to get to Silver Hills?" asked Sam, as Luc stopped the jeep in the driveway of a small two story home.

"We will, this will just take a minute," answered Luc, as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out. "Just stay here, I'll be right back." Sam nodded his head and watched as Luc walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later the door opened. "Luc, what are you doing here?" asked Ally, knowing it was rather early in the day for her cousin to be dropping by. It had been a good couple of weeks since they last talked to each other, which hadn't been one of the greatest of conversations they had had over the years.

"….Look, can I come in for a minute?" He didn't know why he was even doing this, but a part of him felt of all the people in Newtech City, she deserved to know what was going on. Given the present situation, he was setting aside his own personal feelings.

"Sure," answered Ally, nodding her head, knowing that whatever Luc was here for it was important.

Knowing that time was a factor Luc just went on and told her that Sky had gone missing and had gone after some dangerous fugitive. And how Cruger had ordered both him and Sam to head to Silver Hills to go find this Griffin guy. She took the news rather well, but that was to be expected; she had known Sky for a while and probably had known he would pull some stunt like this, but he always knew that his cousin was very good at hiding her real feelings. He knew that she cared about Sky, but he had no idea just how far those feelings went.

"Did Cruger say who this Griffin was?" asked Ally. She knew the reality of their chance of finding Sky, who had drifted off into deep space, was very slim, without ship's trackers it would be next to impossible. So how could one man be able to find him, when their computers couldn't?

Luc shook his head. "No. I was hoping you might know who he is; maybe Sky mentioned him or something."

'No. This is the first time I ever heard of Griffin, I don't know who he is." Sky had really only opened up to her once and that was about the horrible event that had claimed four young lives. Other than the few things she already knew about him, there was very little more she knew about Sky Tate. "…But I kind of do remember hearing about the Silver Guardians, back when I was three or four maybe." It was all very vague to her. Sure, everyone knew who the Silver Guardians were and what they stood for, but in the back of her mind she was sure she knew something that might be a little more personal. "I think maybe your mom dated one before she married your dad."

"I don't know, Mom never talked about any of her old boyfriends." He shrugged it off, not thinking anything of it. He sighed heavily, almost wondering if it was a mistake coming here and telling her about Sky's disappearance, especially since he had not spoken to her since they had argued about him. "Look, I'm sorry about before, you were right."

"Don't worry about it." She smiled faintly as she gripped his shoulder. "I know you were just trying to look out for me."

"Yeah." He smiled as he looked down at his watch. 'Well, I better be going, Sam's waiting in the jeep." He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "See yah later, cuz."

* * *

"Sir!" announced a Silver Guardian, as he entered into the training room where a group of other Guardians all stood in fighting stances on a mat, all circling around a man who couldn't be more then twenty years old.

The Commander of the Silver Guardians, Vic Baxter, turned around. He had been the Commander for the Silver Guardians police task force for quite some time. He had been in this position for twelve years, but had been part of the establishment for twenty-five years. In 2018, when he was thirty five, was when Steve Miller stepped down from his position of Commander of the Silver Guardians. Miller had been the Commander for a good number of years, since day one he had been with the Guardians. "Yes, Officer Hank, is there something you need?"

Hank nodded his head and stepped aside to reveal two young men, both wearing SPD uniforms. "Yes, these two men are looking for Griffin."

"I see," he answered, as he eyed the two cautiously, as if he didn't trust them. He looked over his shoulder, watching as Griffin spared against six other Guardians, before he walked over to greet the two young men. "I can handle things from here, Hank, you may return to your post at the gate."

"Yes sir," he answered, as he saluted his Commander.

"So which one of your _rent-a-soldiers_ is Griffin?" announced Luc, not wasting any time. The moment he set foot in this complex he was not at all impressed by what they did here, to him SPD was the far superior force and the Silver Guardians in no way compared to them.

"Luc!" exclaimed Sam, knowing that was not the best way to start things.

Baxter put up his hand, halting Sam. "No, it's all right, kid; it seems your friend here doesn't appreciate the work we do here."

"No offense, but giving people speeding tickets and bringing in a few low profile thugs doesn't really top the list of doing something extraordinary." Luc smirked as he crossed his arms against his chest. "You guys outlived your usefulness years ago."

"I'll have you know, son, that had it not been for this establishment your SPD wouldn't even exist." He looked Luc hard in the eyes, there was no way he was going to let some spoiled brat kid give him that kind of crap, putting down what he had spent a number of years of serving, along with the hundred of others who served with him. "Brave men died to see it happen, so remember that when you put on that uniform." He leaned closer. "Because many of the men and women I served with were putting on these Guardian uniforms long before SPD came to Earth."

"Fine. I get it, _all hail_ the Silver Guardians," he remarked, as he tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "Now, about Griffin."

Vic Baxter could see that it was going to take a little more than a tale of history to get though to Luc. He nodded towards the mat, where one faced face off against six others. "He's right over there."

Luc and Sam looked in the direction Commander Vic Baxter nudged his head towards, watching as the young man known as Griffin easily took down six men right from their feet, knocking them all flat on the mat they had been sparring on.

"Wow!" Sam was simply amazed; he had seen tons of different sparring segments at the academy, even a few that Sky had been in, but the way this Griffin had been able to fight off six men all on his own as if it was nothing to him... "He's a good fighter."

"He's not _that_ good," remarked Luc, crossing his arms against his chest, not at all impressed by the sparring session. "Anyone of these guys can handle themselves, but compared to the training to that of an SPD cadet... It doesn't even compare to the work effects we've been put through."

"Really?" smirked Vic, looking over his shoulder at the young man who was all high on himself. "Then perhaps you would like to go one on one with him."

"Sure, that's if he's not too exhausted from sparring with them." Luc smirked, eyeing Griffin, not seeing him as much competition. He looked more like a pretty boy than someone who could handle a _real_ fight. The type that should be cooped up in some business office.

"Oh trust me, Griffin's a lot tougher than he looks."

"I bet."

Vic walked up to the mat as Griffin grabbed a water bottle, while the other Guardians took a seat on the bench to catch their breath. "Griffin, excellent job."

"Thank you, sir," he answered, patted down his sweating forehead with a towel. He nodded towards the two uniformed young men. "What's with them?"

"They've come looking for you, but..." he nudged his head towards Luc. "That one over there needs a lesson in just what a Silver Guardian is made of. I thought you'd like to be the one to introduce him to that." He grinned.

Griffin had to laugh at that. "Oh, he's one of _those_ guys, huh." Griffin looked towards Luc, taking a moment to measure up his competition. He nodded his head, as he looked back to his Commander. "I'm game." He took a sip of his water. "This should be fun."

Vic gripped the young man's shoulder, whispering in his ear. "Don't go too hard on him. I don't want to send him back to Newtech with broken bones."

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on him." He winked as he patted Vic on the shoulder.

Both Luc and Griffin got on the mat, while the Silver Guardians, Sam and Vic surrounded the two. Luc got into a fighting stance. "Let's see what you got, pretty boy."

"Pretty boy," replied Griffin with a grin. "Haven't heard that one before, did you come up with that all on your own?"

"You can laugh all you want, because I'm going to rip that smile right off your face."

"Really? That would be something." Griffin nodded towards one of the Guardians who then tossed him a bandana. "How bout I make it a little easier for you to do that," he said as he tied it around his head covering his eyes.

Luc just smirked, thinking the odds really had landed in his favor. "Hey, whatever works for you."

"All righty then!" Griffin got into a fighting stance and waved Luc over to make the first move. "Bring it on, commando."

"I'm so going to love this." Luc grinned as he made the first move, throwing a punch right at Griffin, but only to have Griffin evade the move. Luc was a little stunned, but pushed it aside and went in to counter Griffin's next move using a combination of punches and kicks, only to have every single one blocked in quick and swift motions, almost like clockwork, as if his opponent knew where every attack was coming from.

"Come on, you can do better than that," smirked Griffin with a big grin on his face. "I thought you being a top notch SPD officer I'd get more of a workout. I haven't even broken a sweat yet."

Luc could feel the tension rising in his blood, right now he wanted nothing more than to rip that grin off of Griffin's face. He tightened his fists together and positioned his stance, making sure to ignore those who were standing around them, keeping his focus solely on one thing. "If it's a workout you want, it's a workout you're going to get."

"Now you're speaking my language." Griffin waited once again for Luc to make the first move as Luc began to circle around him. Griffin followed his lead, keeping up with Luc's pace, shadowing his each and every step as the two circled around each other.

Luc stopped his movements, grinning as Griffin continued to circle around like before, seeing his chance Luc threw out a punch heading right towards the side of Griffin's head. But before his hand made contact with his opponent's face Griffin blocked the move, then moved quickly putting Luc in a deadlock grip. A look of shock crossed Luc's face: how had he done that?

"My turn," remarked Griffin, as he picked up Luc, flipping him over his shoulder. He turned around to face Luc who was lying flat on his back. "Had enough?"

Frustrated, Luc rolled himself over and pushed himself up to his feet. Now he was pissed. "No. I was just getting warmed up, is all."

"If you say so."

Angry more than ever, Luc put all he had into his next move. He locked his eyes right on Griffin, his heart was racing fast and sweat covered his face. There was no way he was going to be beaten by some pretty face smartaleck. "You're going down, pretty boy!" Luc ran right for Griffin in a blind rage, with intensions of kicking his feet right from under him, but what he hadn't expected was for the blindfolded Griffin to scoop him up, and once again his body banged hard against the mat.

Griffin stood over him, bent down holding out his hand and with the other pulled off his blindfold. "So, you had enough or do I have to kick your ass another time?"

Luc slapped Griffin's hand away and pushed himself up to his feet. "I was going easy on you."

"Oh really?" questioned Griffin, as he crossed his arms against his chest. "Then please let's go for a round two, I wouldn't want to have beaten you just because you had gone easy on me."

Luc eyed Griffin, then glanced over at Sam who was shaking his head no. Luc turned his eyes back to Griffin, he was steamed that he had been beaten by some low ranking Guardian, but he had other matters to attend to than trying to prove himself to him. That would come another time. "Maybe next time; we have other business to attend to."

"Wise choice, my friend." Vic came up from behind Luc, patting him on the shoulder. "Wouldn't want to have to admit you to the infirmary." Vic signaled for his team to follow him out, so that Griffin and the two SPD officers could attend to their matters in privacy.

"So how about we introduce each other, before we get down to business." He put out his hand, as Sam joined them. "You already know who I am."

"Sam Gates," answered Sam, as he shook the young man's hand.

Griffin nodded his head and locked eyes with Luc, who still looked very irritable for having lost the fight. "Luc Wilder."

"So why exactly have two of SPD's finest come all the way here to see me?" asked Griffin.

"We were ordered by Commander Cruger to request you to return back with us to our base in Newtech City," announced Luc, still not at all happy that Cruger had sent them here to bring back this Guardian when he felt he and his team should have been given the job. As much as he disliked Lt. Tate, he preferred to be the one sent on the mission to locate him.

"An order from Commander Cruger, huh?" Griffin crossed his arms against his chest. "So he sent two of his cadets to fetch me." He just shook his head. "Sorry boys, but no can do. You go back your base and tell that old dog that if he wants me, he can come fetch me himself."

"Hey bucko, I don't think you know who you're talking about!" exclaimed Luc, as he got up in Griffin's face. "Commander Cruger is highly regarded in the universe for his work with Space Patrol Delta."

"Oh, but I know all too well who you're talking about," exclaimed Griffin, locking eyes with Luc. "In fact I'm sure I could tell you a few things about him that you would find disappointing." He licked his lips, making it clear that he wanted nothing to do with Cruger. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some other business to attend to." Griffin stepped back and moved to the side as he started to make his way towards the door, but not before Sam teleported himself in front of the door before Griffin could leave. If Griffin was surprised by how Sam could teleport, he didn't show it.

"Please, one of our lieutenants has gone missing, we haven't been able to make contact with him in weeks," pleaded Sam. "Commander Cruger said you were the only one who could help us."

"I bet he did," answered Griffin in such a way that it was as if he was holding something back. "But I'm sorry, I can't help you find Cruger's precious soldier boy."

"Look, as much as I don't care for Lt. Tate," announced Luc as he walked up behind Griffin, grabbing him by the shoulder, forcing him to face him. "He is my buddy Sam's friend."

"Lt. Tate?" Griffin eyed both of them. "As in Schuyler Tate?"

"Yeah?" Luc looked at Griffin curiously; there was just something about the way Griffin had said Lt. Tate's name. "Do you know him or something?"

"…No. I just know of him." Griffin's eyes drifted to the young woman who had just entered the training room; it was Kris, his girlfriend. "But I will come with you back to Newtech City."

After getting situated outside the Silver Guardian's base of operations, Sam and Luc waited in their SPD jeep, watching out the window while Griffin was saying goodbye to his girlfriend Kris. She didn't seem pleased that he was leaving, but it wasn't anger, it looked like she was more concerned than anything.

"Griffin, what are you doing going with them?" She grabbed a hold of his hands, looking into his eyes. "I thought you told me that you never wanted anything to do with them, after what happened-"

He leaned in and kissed her before she could finish, then parted slightly as he looked her deeply in the eyes with all the love in the world. "I know what I said, but believe me I wouldn't be going with them unless it was something important."

Kris sighed heavily, she had known Griffin for two years and since the moment she met him she had known there was something special about him. He was the type of guy who would set aside his own personal feelings in order to do what was important. She might not understand why he had to head to SPD base, but the look in his eyes told her it was important to him. "All right." She smiled faintly. "Just tell me what I'm supposed to say when I head over to your place for dinner."

'"Just say I needed to take care of something in Newtech City and I'll be in touch."

They had been in the jeep for about twenty minutes when the long silence fell. Sam sat in the front seat, while Luc drove back to Newtech City, leaving Griffin to sit in the back. Sam looked in the rear mirror, eyeing their new companion, something had been bothering him ever since they had left the base of the Silver Guardians. Griffin hadn't even seemed at all surprised by his ability to teleport. When he met new cadets at the academy who already knew he could teleport, they still found it shocking, but not this guy.

"Why weren't you surprised when I teleported?"

"Excuse me?" Griffin answered, having to think a moment about what Sam had just asked him, his mind had been elsewhere. "Oh …um, I've seen a lot of things in my day."

"Huh…" announced Luc, joining in on the conversation. "Well, we're the same age and I've seen a lot of things, and I still haven't gotten used to seeing him teleport."

"Well, maybe if you weren't so tense all the time and let all the blood flow to your head, perhaps it would loosen you up a bit," remarked Griffin.

"Nice," muttered Luc. "I'm getting advice from the new guy."

Sam leaned over his seat. "So, Griffin, how long have you been a Silver Guardian?"

"Actually I'm not one, I just train with them."

"What!" Luc roared, as he came to a dead stop at the light. He looked over his seat back. "You mean to tell me Cruger sent us here to pick you up and you're not even a Silver Guardian? So you don't even have any training, do you?"

"I beat you, didn't I?" smirked Griffin. "I guess Cruger didn't tell you who I am, but even if he didn't you should have heard about me in the papers, unless of course SPD guys are too sophisticated to read the daily news."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Sam, having it just hit him. "You're that guy who helped find missing kids and even a few wanted criminals, they call you the 'Human Detector System.' Sam remembered reading a few articles on how Griffin was able to find many kids who had either run away from home or had been abducted, and brought them safely back to their families. He had been doing it ever since he was about fourteen years old.

"Yeah. That would be me. The name needs some work, but hey, it works."

"Yeah. I knew you looked familiar," muttered Luc, now knowing who Griffin was. "You really are a pretty boy."

"You know, Luc, you keep calling me that and my girlfriend might get the wrong idea," laughed Griffin.

"Ha ha, laugh it up," Luc muttered under his breath as he turned down the street.


	12. Chase Into Space

Sam was more curious about Griffin's quick reaction and fighting ability than Luc, who had stayed silent for the rest of the ride back to Newtech City, seemed to be. In that time Sam learned that ever since Griffin was just a boy he had trained hard to become the fighter he was today. Some of his teachers included several of the Silver Guardians, one of which he called his uncle. In the way the young man spoke of them, it was like they were more than just the people who had taught him how to fight, it was like they were his family, a family Sam knew all too well. Other teachers included a couple of different private martial arts instructors, and finally his mother had even taught him a few things, like how to shoot a blaster properly. In actuality he had passed the admission to be permitted to become a Silver Guardian, but had decided to pass on it.

"So why aren't you a Silver Guardian?" asked Sam. "I mean you have the ability to become one, or even a Ranger if you wanted to."

Griffin smiled faintly; he had his reasons. It was just a little more complicated to explain his situation. The only person he had ever really openly talked about it with was his girlfriend Kris. "I could, but I'm not sure if that's what I want. Still trying to figure things out, so in the meantime I'm going after a degree in business."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" muttered Luc, as he pulled the Jeep into the parking bay of the academy.

Griffin ignored Luc's remark, or maybe he didn't hear him. His thoughts drifted elsewhere as he looked out at the windows of the academy, a place he had not been in for years. It looked just the same as he remembered it, but what he remembered from it were not joyous memories, in fact they were some of the worst he had. Luc and Sam got out of the Jeep, Griffin slowly followed behind them, as the memory of his last time being here slowly came back to him.

_A young Griffin, about ten years old, stood outside the building staring longingly at it, as if his heart had been shattered into a million pieces. Tears streamed down his face._

_"Griffin, come on, it's time to go," he heard a sad voice call out to him._

"You coming or what?" Luc called out to him.

Griffin snapped out of his thoughts and came back to reality, knowing it was time for him to return to the place he had not been to since he was a boy. It was time for him to come face to face with Cruger, so that perhaps he might finally be able to face what had happened all those years ago. "Yeah. Right behind you."

It only took a few minutes of walking through the bay entrance and heading down the halls of the academy towards the Command Center, where Commander Cruger was waiting for them. Griffin could feel the slight pounding of his chest. It wasn't that he was nervous of seeing the old Commander, it was more knowing that once and for all he could stand up to him and say what he couldn't say all those years ago.

The moment the doors to the Command Center swished open, Griffin's and Cruger's eyes locked, as if they were frozen in time. Cruger could feel his heart racing, because he was nervous that there before him was a young man who had every right to hold resentment towards him, because of what he had done years earlier.

He shifted his eyes towards Luc and Sam who were standing in front of Griffin, waiting orders. "Thank you, Cadets Wilder and Gates, you are free to go." Both of them saluted their Commander, though Luc seem reluctant to leave, but a sharp look from Cruger told him not to question his authority. He did not need them to get into his personal business with Griffin. It was not yet time to let that out, but he knew in time that it might eventually have to be said, because it wouldn't be long before everyone knew the truth.

Several moments passed with just the two staring at one another, as if neither one wanted to make the first move. Cruger was too stubborn and guilt ridden, while Griffin just did not want to be there, but he had been given little choice. Finally, knowing he was going to have to be the one to step up seeing as he had been the one who requested him to come here, Cruger sighed heavily, knowing it would be a rough start to getting into a conversation. "It's been a long time, Griffin."

"Yeah, it has been. Personally I'd really rather not be here," he answered harshly. Though he knew he needed to face things, a part of him would rather just leave it buried. "But it wasn't like you gave me much of an option." He crossed his arms against his chest. "Do you always send your Cadets to do your dirty work for you?"

He hadn't even heard the question or if he had he just didn't let it bother him. He was too in tune with staring at the young man before him who was no longer a boy. Though he had known that Griffin was no longer the ten year old boy he had once known, he just wasn't expecting him to look… "I'm sorry…." He had to turn away for a moment, as something from his past haunted him. "It's just that you look so much like-"

"Don't start this with me," exclaimed Griffin, not wanting to hear the rest of what Cruger was going to stay. "I didn't come here to catch up on lost time or for you to tell me who I look like. I came here because you didn't have the _balls_ to come to face me and ask for my help." He looked him hard in the eyes, almost smirking. "But then again, that shouldn't surprise me. You were never one for taking care of your own business, always sent someone else to do it for you."

The old Commander could see the anger Griffin held towards him had grown over the years into a bitter resentment that had lasted ten years, and if he didn't fix things could last much longer. "I know there is no amount of words that I could say about how I hurt you that could ever change the way you feel about me, but I am sorry for everything." He really was sorry, looking back now he knew he had gone too far. Even back then he had known, but hadn't given it much of a thought until now. "I really am sorry."

"You should be; my family gave you everything." Griffin could feel all the anger and hurt building up inside, but he held it together, knowing he had more to say and he wasn't about to break down in front of the old dog before him. "Let me just get one thing straight." He paused for a moment as he looked him right in the center of his eyes, as if he were looking right into his very existence. "I'm not finding your _precious soldier_ for you …" He paused, letting out a soft sigh. "I'm doing it for _her_."

"I expected that much," answered Cruger; he had already known even before Griffin set foot onto this base that he would not be doing this for him.

"…So." Griffin didn't want to waste any more time, it was time to get down to business and do what he was sent for. "Let's get down to why I'm here. I need to know as much information as I can about the situation."

Cruger nodded his head; he was grateful that Griffin had decided to do this, because he knew just how difficult it might be for him. It had been so long… "As you know, Lt. Tate has gone MIA."

"Yes." Griffin nodded his head; both Luc and Sam had provided him with that information. "When was the last time he made any contact?"

Cruger bowed his head. "He never did." He sighed heavily, knowing that something probably should have been done right away, but he had thought it would be best to give him his space and that when he was ready he would contact them. "It was hard for him after his team was killed. He was never the same after that." He blamed himself for that, because deep down he knew he should have helped Sky, been there for him and not treated him like he was some dirtbag. "I wasn't there for him, like I should have been. And after five years of living with the guilt, he'd had enough and just wanted a way out." He could see that look in Griffin's eyes and knew what the young man was thinking, and he had every right to think that of him.

Griffin turned away for a moment as if he needed a second to gather himself. He cleared his throat and turned around. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Yes. We have reason to believe that he may have gone after a rogue SPD officer, Icthior."

"Wouldn't that be his job?" questioned Griffin.

"Yes." Cruger nodded his head. He let out a sigh. "…but it's more complicated then that." He handed Griffin the file on Icthior.

Griffin took the file and looked over it; his eyes widened as he read it. He had to read it a couple of times because he couldn't believe it. He looked up from the file, staring at Cruger, at a loss for words. "Is it true?" This being the first time he had ever heard this.

"It was his last dying words, but back then we had nothing to go on. His body was never found in the warehouse, but there was evidence to suggest that his body had been destroyed in the explosion, it was just too damaged to tell if it had been him." But now the question lingered of just whose body was it that they had found, all SPD officers had been accounted for, even the ones who had died. Cruger knew they probably never would know, for all he knew it could have been someone who had been working for Mirloc and Icthior.

"Was Mirloc ever questioned about it?"

"Yes," answered Cruger, nodding his head. "Your Uncle Steve questioned him, but he was never able to get anything out of Mirloc and then it just came to the point that he couldn't interrogate him." It was then when he realized that that had been the last time the Guardians and SPD had worked together; after that they had all gone their separate ways, as if they had never known each other.

"He never told me that." His uncle had told him a great deal of his work as a Silver Guardian, but had never mentioned a word of interrogating Mirloc. He had talked about Icthior a little, but never in a way that suggested he had been a traitor.

"That was a hard time for him." It had been a hard time on all of them, so much had been lost.

Griffin nodded his head. "Yeah."

* * *

"This is a bunch of bullshit!" exclaimed Luc in the common room, to his teammates who sat around on the chairs and couches with him. "Cruger should be sending us out there to look for Tate and not some _wannabe cop_." He felt like their hard work and training was being wasted on someone who had never gone through the simulations to survive space combat or had the training for search and rescue. He and his team had trained the last couple of years in both fields and now they were being passed over for this guy.

"Maybe the Commander feels we're needed here, and that's why he's sending this new guy," said Maxie, trying to calm Luc down, knowing how he could get when he was upset and angry.

"And we haven't been Rangers that long," pointed out Brooke, knowing they probably needed more training to be sent out on a mission like this. She had heard stories told by many of the older cadets who had gone on space missions about the danger and how one small mistake could be the difference between life and death. Everything was unpredictable in space, anything could happen.

Matt nodded his head. "They have a point, bro." Luc might not want to hear it or believe it, but it needed to be said. "Cruger knows what he's doing. And I've heard about this Griffin guy; two years ago he helped this mother find her two children that had been kidnapped by their crazy father, that had been missing for almost five years. …Not to mention the serial killer he assisted in tracking down."

"Fine. The guy's good at finding people," he muttered. "But travel through the depths of space is an entirely different thing; there are tons of space wanderers out there just looking for a fight."

"Then I guess it's a good thing we know the guy can handle a good fight," laughed Matt. "Considering he was able to get the best of you."

Luc gave Matt an evil look, one that meant 'If you don't stop laughing I'm going to break something.' "I was going easy on him."

"Sure you were," exclaimed Maxie with a smile, already having heard the whole story from Sam about how Luc was easily outwitted by Griffin and Luc had been giving all he had into the fight.

After having told the story Sam had been awfully quiet, sitting alone in the chair surrounded by his teammates, lost in his thoughts. There was just one thing that didn't add up about Griffin, something that left Sam wondering. In the news and papers there had been several stories about Griffin helping find missing and wanted people, even when he was just a kid. How could someone just know where to find someone? Even when he was fighting against Luc with the blindfold on, it was like he knew exactly where Luc's moves were going to go, as if he already knew, giving Luc no chance. And then there was the thing with him not being surprised at all by Sam's ability to teleport.

"Something wrong, Sam?" asked Brooke, sensing that something was wrong.

Sam was hesitant at first, not sure if he should say anything but knowing that he didn't have anyone else to share it with. He would have to trust that his team, his friends, would listen and understand. "Do you guys think that it's possible that Griffin could be like me?"

"You mean," questioned Matt, "like having an ability like you and Lt. Tate do?"

Sam nodded his head; it seemed possible that Griffin could have an ability, but then again that only raised more questions. Ones he couldn't answer. He himself wasn't even sure of how he had gotten his power, only that it was because his mother's DNA had been altered in some accident twenty-nine years ago.

"But weren't there only six of you?" asked Maxie. "You said that Cruger told you that you were the last one."

"Yeah, that's what he said, and since Griffin's older I would be the last, but as far as I know there were only six …and after the others..." He paused for a moment. "It was just Sky and me."

"But if you and the others all came to SPD, why didn't he?" asked Matt; it seemed odd to him that Sam and the others who all had powers came to SPD, while Griffin, who might, never did.

Luc leaned back against his seat. "It may have something to do with his resentment towards Commander Cruger," added Luc. "You should have seen the way those two looked at each other." It had been a look he wouldn't be able to forget, it was like everything had gone silent and a pin drop could have been heard. "Those two definitely knew each other."

"Did Griffin ever say why he didn't like Cruger?" asked Brooke.

"No." Sam shook his head.

"Luc, didn't you say this guy knew Lt. Tate?" asked Matt

"He said he knew of him, but I don't know, just something in his voice said otherwise."

Unbeknown to them Kat had been out in the hall, having heard their whole conversation. She knew it wouldn't be long for questions to arise and for pieces to start to be put together. It would only be a matter of time until all the pieces fit together and the whole truth would be known.

* * *

It was close to two days since he had left the planet Zeelatta, and now he was hot on the trail of the rogue SPD officer who had betrayed his father and gotten him killed, but not before tracking down the fish brothers on one of the moons of the planet. He had waited outside the planet's atmosphere in his ship, waiting for Zonk and Booker to leave. They were his only lead to find Icthior.

_Sky, fully morphed in his Red Ranger suit, jumped Booker the moment he jumped out of his ship. He whacked him in the head as hard as he could with the back end of his blaster, knocking out the stronger of the two brothers. Sky then turned to Zonk who was still in the ship, almost shaking in his boots. He pressed a finger to the side of his helmet, lifting up the visor. "Remember me?" He watched as Zonk nodded his head. "Not so tough without your brother backing you up, are you?"_

_"What do you want?" asked Zonk._

_"You know what I want!" hissed Sky, as he kept his eyes locked on Zonk for any sudden movements._

_"Even if I told you where he was, he's probably already moved on."_

_"Humor me."_

_Zonk could tell that the Red Ranger meant business with that blaster being pointed right at him. The man before him was not going to leave until he had gotten his answer. "What's your beef with him anyways?"_

_Sky tightened his fingers around his blaster. "He betrayed my father. That's all you need to know."_

_Zonk's eyes widened. "Your father- He was one of the officers that-"_

_"Just tell me where I can find him!" exclaimed Sky. "….Or I'll be blowing yours and your brother's brains out. …..And don't think I won't do it. I had no problem killing Mirloc and Wootox, so don't think I'll have a problem with you two." He got his blaster ready. "Your choice."_

Zonk ended up giving him Icthior's last known location, but not before giving a heavy warning saying there would be no way he would survive once he faced off against Icthior. Sky figured that might have been one of the reasons the fish brother had told him, figuring that he was as good as dead anyways. And deep down he knew the chances of taking down Icthior were slim. He had been the best of the best, trained with the best, and had more training than him. Survival was unlikely, but he didn't really care. His team was dead, nothing mattered anymore, anything that did he wasn't part of and that had been his own damn fault. He sighed heavily, feeling a sort of peace, knowing that sometime soon he would be reunited with his team, because other than wanting to seek out Icthior for revenge that was the only thing he had left. "You better prepare yourself, Icthior, because I won't go down without a fight."

* * *

Griffin was in the docking bay with Kat and Cruger, getting debriefed about the ship and the conditions of space. This would be the first time he would be piloting a ship like this, but he had had piloting lessons and knew the gist of things. Which meant Kat could get right on to explaining the ship's intense hyper-speed, as time wasn't on their side he needed to get to Sky's last known location as fast as he could so he could catch up to him. "I must warn you that this is a new feature in the ship and I haven't been able to fully test it."

"So either it will work or I'll become scrambled eggs, is basically what you're telling me," remarked Griffin.

"I'm about eighty-two percent sure that it will work just as I intended it to, but to be on the safe side you might want to gear up with this." She looked over at Cruger briefly before she handed him a delta morpher.

"What's this?" he asked, though he already assumed what it was. He just didn't know why she was giving this to him.

"It's a delta morpher: Blue Ranger. It was Sky's…." She looked him in the eyes. "If you power up in swat mode your body should be able to handle the impact and intensity of going through hyper-speed."

Griffin looked from the morpher to Cruger and then back to Kat. "This wouldn't be some scheme to get me to join SPD once I bring him back, would it?"

Kat shook her head. "No. Once you come back, you're free to leave."

"And the morpher?"

"It's yours if you want it. The other morphers were destroyed, only the red and blue remain."

"Griffin," Cruger announced, stepping forward. "You are under no obligation here."

Griffin sighed heavily. "But I am." He bit his lip. "Maybe not to you, but I am." He pushed the thought aside, not wanting to think about that now, that would come later. He would have plenty of time to be with his thoughts in space. "So how about we get this show on the road?"

"One more thing…" Kat turned over her shoulder and whistled; seconds later RIC came dashing in, tail wagging and looking more eager than ever. She turned back to Griffin. "This is RIC, he may be old but he will be a big help to you navigating in space while you search for Sky, and can provide you some cover if you run into trouble." She looked him hard in the eyes. "Twenty years ago he worked with one of our best officers, even took a few bullets for him. You give him your trust; he'll give you his life."

Griffin looked to be at a loss for words as he looked down at the robotic dog, almost as if they held some connection to each other. He let out a sigh. "Come on RIC, we got a job to do." RIC barked and followed Griffin into the ship.

Both Kat and Cruger watched as Griffin flew out of the docking bay door heading towards space, embarking on a mission that would hopefully bring Sky home. "You think it was wise sending RIC with him?"

"_He_ would have wanted it that way. RIC will look out for him; he always has for Sky." She licked her lips, sighing heavily as she turned around to face her old friend. "Besides, RIC isn't what has my concern." She paused for a moment, making sure she had his attention. "I heard the Rangers talking, about Griffin."

"They don't know anything."

"They know that Griffin has an ability like Sam, Sky and the Rangers did. And it won't be long before they put the other pieces together."

"The team won't get any further than that; no one on this base has known for the past ten years. Other than you, the little information that Boom stumbled upon, and me."

"Maybe that's been part of the problem." She smiled faintly. "I think it's time that we called her, let her know what going on."

He knew that Kat was right, given everything that had happened. He owed that much to her. "I know. I just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Everyone usually does."

**Out in space...**

Griffin looked outside the window of the ship, staring at Earth; never had home seemed so far away but so beautiful. "The kids back at the children's hospital that I visit would love to see this." He smiled as he turned to RIC. "Now that I think about it, they'd probably like you too, Sparky, so how about we make a deal? You make sure that I don't blow us up and I'll spring you one day to meet the kids. How does that sound?"

RIC nodded his head, barking eagerly.

Griffin smirked. "I'll take that as a yes." He then turned his attention to the control panel of the ship where he could set in the coordinates, but before doing so he closed his eyes and pressed his finger to his temple, as if he were in deep thought. "Come on…. Where are you?" He squeezed his eyes tight together, as if he were in pain, then a few seconds later he screamed out. His heart was racing and he was taking deep breaths. "He's too far out for me to get a lock on him, so we're going to have to go to his last known whereabouts, then hopefully I can get it." Griffin pulled the morpher from his belt. He always had wondered what it would feel like to morph, now he was going to get his chance. It was like a surge of energy going through him, never had he felt so much power. He was fully powered up in swat mode. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about, yahoo!" He turned to RIC. "Better hang on, buddy, because I'm about to set this baby into full power hyper-speed mode."

In a blink of an eye the ship disappeared in a bright flash……


	13. Memory Lane

He was growing tired, but his thirst for wanting to find Icthior and take him down kept him alert. Sleep would come later, when he could sleep for the rest of eternity. It would just be a little over an hour, according to his computer's readings, when he would reach the Phantom Noxious, galaxy of a ghost planet known as Ghilan. It was a known fact by many space travelers that Ghilan was a haunted planet, abandoned hundreds of years ago after a great battle that killed nearly ninty percent of its inhabitits, which is where the planet's second name came from:_ the_ _Death Planet_.

It had gotten that name because everyone who had ever gone to the planet had never returned. But no one really knew for sure if any of the space travelers who had gone to Ghilan had ever made it to the planet, it was just a story that many tell, for all anyone knew none of those who had gone to the planet ever made it there, or perhaps they are still there and just don't want to be found. Either way, it didn't scare Sky in the least, he didn't believe in hauntings, but then again…..

His eyes were wandering to a photo of him and his team, taken just a month before they had been killed. Every so often he would find himself being haunted by them, images he couldn't get out of his head and voices that he could never find. He found his mind drifting, thinking about some of the happier times he had had with them. Times when he had actually acted like a friend and not the pigheaded jerk that he acted like most of the time. Especially to Jack…

_Sky was lying on his bed, looking at a picture of himself and his father. Only a short time ago he had been yelled by Cruger for disobeying Jack's orders and abandoning his post, which resulted in hundreds of valuable diamodes being stolen by Krybots. He looked up from the photo after hearing a tap at the door. _

_"How'd it go?"_

_Jack wasn't exactly his favorite person in the world right now, but given the fact he was already on thin ice he wasn't about to get into another fight with the guy. "Brutal. Two weeks on night watch."_

_'Mind if I come in?"_

_He wanted to say, 'You're the leader;__ you can do whatever the hell you want,' but instead said, "Suit yourself." _

_Jack walked inside and sat down on Bridge's bed as Sky sat up and put the picture of his father on his nightstand. He avoided Jack's gaze as much as possible, still upset about earlier in the day. Jack sighed heavily. "Look, I know you don't trust me and that you're still mad that Cruger choose me over you. Believe me, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably be pissed too," Jack said after gazing a moment at the picture of Sky's father as if he understood why being red meant so much to Sky. "…But we can't keep going at things like this." He wanted to try to get on some level with Sky where maybe they might not like each other, but maybe they could each at least trust and respect the other. "So I'd be willing to work with you if you'll work with me. What do you say?" asked Jack, putting out his hand, hoping that Sky would take his offer._

_He hated to admit it, but Jack did have some valid points. With him and Jack always at odds with each other, that could end up putting the team in danager. "Well, it sure beats butting heads with each other all the time," he answered, shaking Jack's hand._

Sky sighed heavily, unfortunately he hadn't kept his end of the bargain, at least when Dru came back into the picture. Then his and Jack's problems started all over again, because he didn't want to take the time to listen to Jack about the possibility that Dru had been compromised and was no longer the guy he knew. The sad part of it all was that Jack and he could have become best friends and now he'd never know.

His eyes fell upon Z and Bridge, the youngest members of the team. Neither one of them had made it to their eighteenth birthday; both of them had died at just seventeen.

_Somehow Bridge and Z had talked Sky into going to the park to play Frisbee. Of course at first he refused, claiming that it was just for little kids and that he was much too old to be tossing around some round piece of plastic, but the two wouldn't take no for an answer. And he actually ended up having fun._

_"So you do know how to have fun," exclaimed Z with a grin. "I was beginning to think that Sky Tate was the 'Grinch of having fun'," she joked._

_"Hey, I know how to have fun!" exclaimed Sky as he tossed the __Frisbee__ towards Bridge. _

_"But I think our version of fun and yours are two entirely different things," said Bridge as he tossed the __Frisbee towards Z, but Sky jumped in swinging his arm out and grabbing a hold of it before Z could get a hold of it._

_"You jerk!" Z said as she swatted at Sky who was laughing, as he played keep away with her. "Give that back."_

_"Bridge, catch!" Sky launched the Frisbee at his roomate, all the while making sure that Z never touched it._

_"Got it!" Bridge yelled as he jumped up and caught the flying disc. He then locked eyes with Sky, acting like he was going to toss the Frisbee towards him._

_"Okay guys, you had your fun. Now toss me the Frisbee. I've never like monkey in the middle."_

_"Come on, you stand a better chance at it than Sydney," remarked Sky, distracting Z so that Bridge could toss the disc towards him._

_"Hey!" Z rolled her eyes. "It's a wonder how she put up with you two for so long."_

_"Hey Bridge, go long!"_

_"Okay." Bridge started running backwards as Sky tossed the Frisbee towards him, only it never made it to his hands but into a pair of Z's hands, who once the she had it walked over to the real Z and handed the Frisbee to her._

_"Now the game is back in my court." She grinned at the two boys as she crossed her arms against her chest. "Let's see how you two like it."_

_"Hey now__, that's cheating," remarked Sky._

_"What? Is the great Sky Tate afaid of a challenge?" sneered Z. "Afraid you're going to be beaten by a girl?"_

_Sky just grinned, shaking his head. "Come on friend, let show Z and all her selves what we're made of."_

That had been one of the few times that he had allowed himself to have fun with them. When he had loosened up and actually enjoyed life for a change. He hadn't known Z that long and knew at times he had been hard on her because of her past, but she was trying to change. She wanted to make a difference, she wanted to help people, do something important with her life. Something he knew all too well about, but she had died just as she was starting to do what she wanted. …And then there was Bridge, his roomate, his friend, and someone who he at times thought of as a little brother. Sure he might have been a little annoying and had a strange way of doing things, but Bridge had been the one who kept him grounded at times.

"…Sydney." And finally there was Sydney, the one who he had known the longest. Back when they first met he couldn't stand her, he thought she was just a spoiled rich kid, a brat, who didn't belong there, but over time he saw that she had something in her. Sure she acted like a drama queen at times, but when push came to shove she would do what had to be done. She was more than what all the tabloids wrote about her, she was so much more than that, and now they would never know.

_The two of them had been ordered to look after a bunch of diamonds, while the others went downtown to go check out a disturbance. Sky was anything but pleased with the decision. He felt that his skills were being wasted and that he was far more suited for the physical part of the job, instead of sitting on his ass doing nothing. Sydney of course thought she was in 7__th__ heaven, as she played around with the diamonds and then tried to get him to lighten up. _

_"This is such bullshit!" he yelled. "This is a total waste of my time!"_

_"Oh come on, Sky, it's not that bad."_

_"Look around, Syd, we're watching a bunch of stupid diamonds while the others are probably in battle."_

_"You know, there is more to life than always fighting against something, Sky."_

_"Newsflash, Syd: we're SPD, we're always fighting against something."_

_"Oh right, I forgot," she answered sarcastically. "You're right, we fight against criminals and when we're not fighting them, then we fight against each other. At least you do anyways."_

_"Whatever," remarked Sky, as he turned his head away and took a sip of his water. A second later he felt the ping of one of the diamonds hitting his shoulder._

_"Stop it, Sydney!"_

_"Stop what?" she answered, as she tossed another one at him._

_"I mean it, Syd, don't test me."_

_"Or what, you going to call my parents?" she joked, as she tossed a third one at him._

_That did it. Sky jumped to his feet, marching up to her and dumping his water on top of her, laughing the whole time he did it._

_Sydney couldn't believe that he had actually done that, but what she couldn't believe even more was the smile on his face. She shook her head, grinning. "It took me looking like this to get a smile on your face?"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about," remarked Sky, quickly getting rid of the smile and heading back to where he had been sitting down._

_"No. It looked good on you," announced Sydney as she followed him. "You know, if you started hanging with the team more and stopped being such a loner, maybe you would smile more often." She started to reach out to him, but Sky quickly put up one of his force fields. "That will only work for so long, because one of these days I will figure out a way to break through that force field of yours."_

He would never admit it, but she was the one he missed the most. Sydney had always been the one who had tried the hardest to break him out of the wall he had created around himself, and after she died that wall had only gotten stronger, making it so that no one could ever get through.

Maybe it was because she had known him the longest, that she saw him differently, or maybe it was because, like Sam, she had said she loved him. Perhaps that was what made all the difference, why she refused to give up on getting through to him. Even when he turned her away and treated her badly it was never enough to keep her away, at least until that day five years ago when the one thing that could keep her away happened.

He turned his eyes away from the photo and put his attention back onto the open space before him. He needed his mind to be focused and ready; he couldn't be dwelling on the might have been. They were gone and no matter what he did he could never get them back.

* * *

Ally and Kat sat in her kitchen, while the faint sounds from the TV could be heard coming from the living room. She had just been finishing putting the dishes away from dinner when the knock at her door had come. She had been a little surprised to find Kat Manx at her door, a woman she really didn't know that well. Had met her a few times in passing back when she had dated Jack and even a few times after Jack and the others died, but the two really had never had a full conversation with each other. Only a few words here and there.

But it had been one of those days today, after her cousin's visit earlier in the day announcing to her that Sky Tate had gone MIA. Something she knew that would happen the moment Sky told her that he was leaving. She knew from the look in his eyes, the sound in his voice, that getting lost in space had been his intention all along. No longer able to live with the guilt and not being able to succeed in getting himself killed, he had done the only thing he felt could solve both his problems.

Several minutes had passed by with the two women just staring at one another, as if neither one knew how to start things. There was so much that had happened, so much that needed to be said, that had gone unsaid for a number of years by both of them.

Ally sighed heavily, a sickly feeling in her stomach starting to take over, because of the impending question that had been playing over and over in her mind ever since Luc had left her home to head to Silver Hills. "Look if he's…" She licked her lips. "If he's dead, just tell me know. Please, so that I can get on with my life." She did not want to have to go on wondering any longer than she had to, too much time had already been wasted waiting for him to get his head straight.

"As far as I know right now, Sky is alive," Kat answered, wanting to assure her that wasn't the reason why she had come here: to bring her news that Sky had been killed. "Griffin is searching for him as we speak."

"Who is Griffin?" asked Ally. Luc had mentioned him when he had come to see her, but neither one knew who he was or why Cruger felt that he would be the only one who could find Sky. She had tried calling her cousin before she sat down for dinner, but he didn't answer his cell and hadn't returned the message she had left for him. So now with Dr. Manx sitting across from her, a person she knew could answer her question, she wanted to know. Who was Griffin and why hadn't anyone brought him up before?

For a moment Kat contemplated whether to tell her right then and there just who Griffin was, but decided now wasn't the best time for that. First there were more important things that needed to be said. "It's complicated."

"As of five years ago, so is my life," remarked Ally harshly, as she glared Kat in the eyes. She hated being left in the dark. She could recall a few occasions back when she and Jack were together that there were certain things about his job that he had to keep hidden from her. "So uncomplicate it. Who is Griffin? Why did Cruger send him, instead of the team? What makes this guy so special?"

Kat knew she would be stepping over the line here, letting Ally in on just who Griffin was. Why Cruger had called him and what his connection to Sky was. Cruger had no idea that she was even here. He also had no idea of the secret that Sky had been keeping from him, along with the rest of SPD. Only she knew, and not because someone had shared the information with her, but because she just had ways of knowing. "All I can tell you is that Griffin has an ability, just like Sky and Sam ….and the other Rangers did. He has a tracking ability, he's able to know where people are and in some cases know their every move."

"Wait a minute!" Ally's eyes widened. "You're telling me there were seven and not six?"

"Yes," Kat answered, nodding her head.

"But Jack, he never said anything about there being another one…." But then again there had been things about his job that he couldn't tell her.

"He didn't know about Griffin, none of them did." Griffin had been left out of the picture, mainly for the fact that he was not going to be joining SPD, so for that reason there never had been any mention of him. "Griffin's family did not want him to take part in SPD."

"Does Sky know who Griffin is?" asked Ally, sensing that there might be a connection between Griffin and Sky, something she wasn't seeing. "Luc seemed to think he might."

"I know Sky and you spent some time together. How much did he tell you about himself?"

"What do you mean?" she questioned her; it wasn't like Sky was an open book type of guy. He wasn't the type of guy to come right out and tell you his feelings and fears. He was the type of guy who would bury all that and push you away and no matter how hard you tried to get through to him; the more he would push away. "He only opened up to me that one time, about that _day_ on the training planet….." _Not too surprising after the amount of alcohol he had been drinking_. To this day she could still hear the pain and fear in his voice, it was so unlike the Sky she had known. A broken man, but then again, she had been pretty broken up that night too. They had said goodbye to Jack and the others.

_Ally had found Sky sitting on her doorstep sipping a beer when she arrived back home from the memorial services. He looked terrible; like he hadn't slept in days and that he could drop at any moment. She couldn't blame him; she knew he felt responsible for what had happened …she had even heard what Syd's father had said to him. She never even questioned where or how he had gotten the twelve-pack of beer, given he wasn't quite twenty-one._

_And under normal circumstances she might have just turned him away, but she wasn't doing too well herself. The deaths still fresh in her mind, the losses they both had suffered. They needed each other ….or just maybe she didn't want to be alone right now. Her father was away on business and would not be back for a couple of days. "Come on, we don't want you to get caught drinking out here." She extended her hand helping him up and led him into the house, into the living room where they both sat down._

_Over the next couple of hours both of them together finished off the twelve-pack of beer, during which Sky broke down in tears as he told her everything about that day. And how sorry he was for what happened to Jack, knowing that she cared very much about him. It was one of the most difficult moments of her life, sitting there and listening to him as he poured it all out, as if it was just too much for him to bear, but he couldn't quite let it all go. Never in a million years did she think she would ever see the hard-toned man she had only known for a number of months break down in front of her. …Both of them had lost it that night, falling apart in their tears and drinking more than they should have._

"After that he never opened up to me again," she answered flatly, there was a hint of hurt under her tone.

It didn't surprise Kat in the least that Sky hadn't told her. Not even the other Rangers back when they were alive knew the whole truth, as far as she knew. Sky had pretty much kept his whole life private, even from Dru. "How much do you know about his father?" Though it was a known fact to her that Sky's father had been a Power Ranger, it was not a known fact by all cadets and officers that Sky had been the son of one of SPD's greatest Rangers who had fallen twenty years before.

"Only that he was a Ranger. I don't even know the guy's name." Ally shook her head, not knowing where this all was going. "Where is this going, Kat? I really don't know much about Sky, only that he's a stubborn, coldhearted jerk-off who has no consideration for other's feelings."

Kat smiled faintly, knowing that as tough as Ally seemed to be on the outside, on the inside the young woman was hurting. "I know he hurt you, Ally." She locked her eyes right on Ally, almost leaning in. "You tried to be there for him, be his friend, help him through what happened."

"Only he didn't want my help!" exclaimed Ally. "Instead he kept taking off, going on reckless chases and arrests that always ended him up in the hospital." She sighed heavily, remembering the countless times she had gone to see him while he was in the hospital. He had always been in a deep sleep, never once knowing she had come to see him; only Kat really knew.

_It had been the sixth time in the past two years that he had ended up in the hospital, and just as always she had heard about it on the news: how one of SPD's finest had been injured. They weren't exactly friends, but she still kept tabs on what he was doing, as if she were hoping that someday he would come back down to earth and begin to live again. She sighed heavily as she stared down at his peaceful sleeping self. The sad part was that the only time he ever seemed at peace was when he was lying in the hospital, being put on heavy drugs so he would get some rest, allowing his body to heal. _

_This time it had been a high speed chase, Sky ended up losing control of his jeep and causing it to flip over several times, then it crashed into a building. The time before it had been a dangerous hostage situation where he had gotten shot, then there was the time when he had been stabbed, and she couldn't forget the time he had been thrown through a window, which caused a massive head injury. There were so many times he had come so close to death, it came to the point where you knew that's what he was after._

_"I'm leaving, Sky." She bit her lip; she wasn't sure if he could hear her. She had heard that sometimes they can hear what you're saying to them, but at this point she really didn't care whether he heard her or not. It wasn't like he had ever listened to her before. "I'm leaving Newtech and I don't know when or if I'll ever come back." She stopped for a moment, staring into his face as if hoping to get some response from him, but nothing ever came except the soft sounds of his breathing. _

_She licked her lips as she sighed heavily. "I can't do this anymore. I won't watch you try to get yourself killed. ….I have something more important in my life now, that needs my attention." She started to reach for his hand, but at the last second pulled it away. "I'm sorry, but I know if I stay you'll only pull us down with you and I can't have that." Ally stood up as she pulled a letter out of her pocket and set it next to Sky. "This is what is best for everyone."_

"It just got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore, so I left Newtech. I wasn't going to sit around waiting to lose another friend." It just got to be too much, nothing she did seemed to work and once she realized that Sky wasn't going to let go of what happened. He left her with little choice. "I did what I had to do and I don't for a second regret leaving, so don't even try to make me feel guilty about that."

"I won't." Kat knew that Sky had put Ally in a tough position. She had done what she had to do to protect herself and what was important. "You did the right thing by leaving, Sky was falling deeper and deeper and the last thing you needed was for him to drag you …..and _Ryan_ down with him."

"_Ryan_ has nothing to do with Sky!" she exclaimed, wanting to make it perfectly clear that her son was not to be brought into this discussion. "They don't even know each other. Never even met." Briefly Ally turned her head to the entrance that led into the living room, where her young son was watching a cartoon while eating some ice cream.

"I've known for a while now, Ally." She smiled faintly, having known that the moment she brought Ryan into the discussion the tables would turn. "The rest of SPD may be fooled, but I know." She could tell that she wouldn't be able to get any further than that with Ally. Kat pulled the envelope out of her pocket that Sky had given her. "Look, the reason I came here was to give you this. Sky gave it to me before he left. I assume he tried to give it to you first." She held it out to her. "I hope this time you'll take it, there are things you need to know."

Ally stared at the envelope, the same envelope Sky had tried to give to her just before he was going to leave Earth. They had gotten into an argument and she had refused to take it from him, claiming it was just his way of trying to feel better for the way he had treated her.

"Mommy, is something wrong?" asked the young boy, as he entered into the kitchen carrying his empty bowl.

Ally turned to her young son, smiling faintly. She reached her hand out, rubbing it through his hair. "No, sweetie, everything's fine."

Ryan looked from his mother and then to Kat. He might be just four and a half, but he was old enough to sense something was going on. He might not understand enough to know what it was about, but he knew it was upsetting his mother.

* * *

Griffin had been out in space for hours now, light-years away from Earth, the only home he had ever known. He never imagined it to be as big as it was and as lonely as it was, and he hadn't been able to pick up on Sky yet. He had been able to pick up on many others; all of them seemed lonely, lost in space, trying to find themselves. It was not what he had imagined outer space to be like, back when he was just a young boy. He could recall several nights looking up at the stars at night, searching for shooting stars and making wishes.

He smiled faintly, as he watched one through the window at a much closer view. "Shooting star. So what did you wish for, RIC?" he kind of jokingly asked, figuring a robot probably didn't make wishes. It was getting late, but he knew he needed to stay awake in order for him to pick up on Sky's whereabouts, and the only way for him to stay awake was for him to talk to someone.

So he turned to RIC who was sitting beside him, who was his only companion on this journey through space. "How bout I'll tell you what I wished for." He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah. I know that if you tell someone what you wished for, it won't come true, but seeing as I've been making this wish ever since I was a little kid I'm not too worried about it." He didn't know why he was telling RIC this, he had never told anyone what his wish was, not even Kris.

Griffin leaned his back against his seat. "Since I was two or three …I think," he wasn't exactly sure how old he was, old enough to know what a shooting star was and what you're supposed to do when you see one, "I would make this wish, the same one every time." He turned to the robotic K9 that seemed as eager to please him as if he was a real live dog with skin and fur. "I would wish to be able to see someone …._someone_ I never knew, and at that time I couldn't understand why my wish never came true. It wasn't until I was a little older when I finally understood why." He shook his head, almost smiling to himself as if he couldn't believe that he was talking to RIC as if he were a real person. A second later, he found RIC laying his head in his lap.

_"Base to Griffin, this is Commander Cruger, do you read me?" _

Griffin put the morpher up to his mouth, sighing heavily, not liking the fact that he had to report to Cruger. He'd much rather be reporting to Kat, but given the fact that Cruger was the commander he didn't have much of a choice. "I read you, commander."

_"Good. What is your status? Have you made contact with Sky yet?"_

He could hear the concern in Cruger's voice, but in a way he resented it, knowing that Cruger probably had driven Sky to taking off like he did, but he also knew for the time being he had to put his personal feelings towards Cruger aside. "Negative, sir, I have not been able to pick up a lock on him."

_"What do you mean you haven't been able to pick up on him yet, you should be within range to be picking up on his whereabouts!" _Cruger exclaimed, upset that Griffin had not done what he asked yet.

"Excuse me!" Griffin was not about to take any shit from Cruger, especially when he was under no obligation to take orders from him. "I do not have to take orders from you. I am not one of your stoolpigeons. And as for why I haven't been able to pick up on him, well, there are just some people harder to get a lock on than others."

_"But you should be able to be picking up on him-"_

"Yeah, I probably should," agreed Griffin. "But whose fault is that, Commander?" He waited a few seconds, but Cruger never answered. "Yeah. That's what I thought, so why don't you sit back and do your job and I'll do mine."

_"Griffin, I'm-"_

"Just save it, there's nothing more I want to hear from you right now. Griffin out." The young man turned to RIC, just shaking his head. "I don't know how you're able to put up with that guy."

**Back on earth...**

"You shouldn't have yelled at him like that," announced Kat as she walked into the command center, having just overheard Cruger's conversation with Griffin. "It's been a long time for him, and Sky's not exactly the easiest person to find, even for someone like Griffin." She couldn't know for sure, Sky did have the ability to create forcefields, perhaps he had figured out a way to block all trace of himself, but then that would mean he thought they would try to use Griffin to find him.

"I know," sighed Cruger; he was growing weary and concerned, because part of him knew he could have prevented a lot of this from ever happening. "I'm just …worried. I'm afraid of what will happen if Sky does find Icthior, what might happen." It was unbearable to even think about it, but you couldn't help but think about it. The old commander knew what Sky was capable of; he had already killed two monstrous villains in cold-bitter blood and it had only driven the young man into a cold shell that he had not been able to escape.

"We both are." Kat smiled faintly as she gripped her oldest friend's shoulder. "Griffin won't give up; it's not in his blood. You just need to trust him."

He nodded his head, knowing she was right. While Griffin might not trust him, he knew he needed to have trust in the boy, that he would do everything that he possibly could to locate the missing SPD officer. "Where'd you take off to today?" he asked, wanting to change the conversation and also wanting to know where she had gone. It wasn't like Kat to just take off without saying where she was going, not even Boom had known where she had gone when he had asked him.

Kat sighed heavily, knowing now was not the best time to tell him and it was not her place to say anything. "I went to visit a friend on a personal matter."

"I see." Cruger linked his hands behind his back. "Well, I'm going to check over today's reports, if you'll excuse me, Dr. Manx." He was about to head out of the command center when he heard Kat's voice calling out to him.

"Have you called her yet?"

Cruger stopped dead in his tracks. He knew he should have called hours ago, but he just didn't have it in him. The last time he had talked to her was ten years ago, and it had not been on good terms. Their relationship had already been stale long before that. Maybe he was a coward ….or maybe he just had a hard time admitting his own mistakes to others.

"You need to call her, Doggie," said Kat softly, knowing that it would be a very difficult call for him to make. "I can't do it for you. I wish I could, but I can't." This was just one of those things that she could not do for him, it had to be him.

"I know…." He turned around to face her. "I'll call her right now."

Kat smiled faintly. "I'll give you some privacy." Without another word, Kat exited out of the command center, the doors closing behind her, allowing Cruger to have all the privacy he could get.

He had never meant for things to turn out the way they had. This had not been part of the plan back when they first began this establishment, but here he was. So much had been taken in all his years on Earth, several Rangers and officers had been killed, both young and old. Some of them had even been very good friends of his, who he still mourned today. But he hadn't just lost some in death; he has lost some because he had betrayed their trust. Sighing heavily, Cruger typed in the number and waited as the ringtone rang, which seemed like hours until someone on the other end responded.

_"It took you long enough! I was just three seconds away from walking out to my car and heading straight to Newtech!"_

"Look, I know it's been a long time and that you probably-"

_"You're right, I didn't want to be hearing from you and I sure as hell didn't want you scooping up my son, right from under me!" _Her voice was furious and angry at him, much like it was ten years before. _"What did you need him for? Haven't you already taken enough from me?"_

_'Haven't you've taken enough from me' _The words played over and over in his mind, of his own sin. Which now, years later, he had come to regret. Back then it had seemed so easy, he hadn't even thought about what he had done, but now with the consequence of his actions before him he was thinking about it more than ever. "I know my words will mean nothing. What I did was inexcusable, heartless, and I didn't care at what cost, but I do deeply regret my actions."

There was a long pause on the other end, almost as if she was considering accepting his apology. After all, years ago they had been friends …..but that seemed like a lifetime ago. _"…Why did you need Griffin? All anyone was able to tell me was that two of your cadets came looking for him, because one of your officers was MIA. Where's my boy?"_

"Yes, one of our officers is MIA. …One of our top officers." He waited for a moment, wanting her to grasp it all before he continued. "We lost contact with him weeks ago after he left for space. A couple days ago we got word from a bounty hunter that he may be after someone from our _past_." He sighed heavily. "You should come to Newtech, as soon as possible."

_"….I'll be there right away."_


	14. Surviving

"Ghilan…" Sky barely whishpered, as his heart skipped a beat

"Ghilan…" Sky barely whispered, as his heart skipped a beat. The planet was right in front of his eyes; it was a gloomy planet, sort of purplish in color, with a gust of smoke flowing around it. The only question that now remained was: would he find what he was seeking? He didn't know what he would do if Icthior was not on the planet Ghilan. He didn't want to think about it. All he wanted now was to rip the heart out of the _man_ who had betrayed his father and had gotten him killed. The cost didn't matter to him, one way or another; even if it was the last thing he ever did, he would make him pay.

But for a brief moment it was as if he were almost considering what he was about to take part in. He just stared off into space, not really looking at anything, more like he was lost within himself, as if he were listening to the very faint voice in his head telling him to turn around and go home and forget all about Icthior. "…No!" Sky shook his head furiously, pushing that small voice in his head farther back, burying it deep within.

He would not stop, not now, not after he had come all this way. It was time for judgment to be made, and as far as he was concerned he was going to be the guy to give it. "Today's the day, you're going to pay for what you did to my father!" With those words Sky navigated the ship into the planet's atmosphere where he would begin his search for Icthior, making sure of the man who he years ago might have called friend or even thought of as an uncle, but not anymore. It panged him to think that Icthior, one of SPD's top officers and fighters, had ended up betraying them in the worst possible way. He knew right then and there it would bring no joy to his heart, because that little boy who he had years ago buried deep inside himself had looked up to Icthior, a great fighter, and now years later that same little boy would be the one to bring him down.

Sky landed the ship on the planet's surface, knowing he was only getting closer to finding Icthior. He sat there for a few moments, knowing the moment he stepped foot outside of the ship there would be no turning back for him. Not even if he somehow changed his mind midway through, he wouldn't be able to turn away and leave. Icthior ….if he was here, would not give him that chance. Sighing heavily, he grabbed his gear and before jumping out of the ship he briefly looked at the photo of his fallen teammates.

"I'll be seeing you soon."

After he jumped out of the ship, it didn't take long for someone to spot him on the rocky gusty-winded planet; despite the darkened atmosphere where there was no sunlight, just a glow of the three moons. More than likely whoever it was had seen the ship coming in for a landing.

The cloaked figure, who had jumped off a large cliff onto the ground, approached Sky cautiously. "You are not welcome here," he hissed. "Go back from where you came or pay the price with your life."

"Well then, it's a good thing I didn't come here for a welcoming," exclaimed Sky, as he turned around to face the cloaked man before him with his blaster pointed right at him. "Icthior!"

The cloaked figure raised his head a bit, as if trying to get a better look at the intruder who had invaded his home. He began laughing immensely, but in a sinister haunting type of way, one that could send shivers down your back. "Well, if it isn't my favorite human nephew, little Schuyler." He pulled off his cloak, tossing it to the ground, revealing himself to be one of the greatest SPD officers who had gone rogue, with an arsenal of weapons in his grasp, including a samurai sword and a very old weapon that had been banned from SPD. "What has it been, twenty years? My, you have grown."

Sky tightened the grip around his blaster, keeping his eyes locked on Icthior. "Let's get one thing straight, you worthless piece of shit. I am _not_, nor will I ever be, your nephew." He could feel the anger and pain flowing right through his veins."….You son of a bitch!"

"Now now," Icthior taunted, smirking almost, "….that is no way to speak of my mother, Sky." He had been expecting Sky's arrival ever since he had received word from the fish brothers that a human claiming Icthior had gotten his father killed was after him. Years ago he had wanted to go after Sky, back when he was just a child, but him coming to him a grown man was much better. _Much better_. "Didn't your mother raise you better?"

"You leave my mother out of this, you bastard!"

"Again with the names, guess _Daddy_ never took the belt to you for that mouth of yours." He grinned, watching as Sky's face went through a whirlwind of emotions. "Oh, that's right, your daddy didn't even make it to your sixth birthday, did he?" He knew if he toyed with Sky's emotions long enough the boy would play right into his hand. "How did it make you feel to lose your _hero_?"

Sky knew what he was doing; his father's former teammate was trying to make him let his guard down and lose control of his emotions. He couldn't let that happen; if he did there would be no way he could take Icthior down. Losing his father had been the worst day of his life, but he couldn't let that be used against him. "I didn't come here to talk about my childhood. I came here to _kill_ you!" He glared his eyes right into Icthior, as if he were looking right into his soul, if he even had a soul. "Even if I go down with you."

"Well then, go ahead, _'Daddies boy,' _take your best shot," he mocked. "The first one's free."

Sky contemplated for a moment, knowing that was exactly what Icthior wanted him to do: make the first move and fall short, allowing his father's betrayer to make a move on him, but either way he didn't have much of a choice. Someone had to make the first move and he had the added advantage of having a quick reflexive power shield to protect him from Icthior's countermove. "Prepare to meet your maker," he announced as he pulled the trigger of his blaster, watching as the shot blasted towards the powerful swordsman, but only to have the blast quickly reflected away off in the distance thanks to Icthior's quick motions of grabbing his sword and using it to protect himself against Sky's attack. Not that Sky hadn't expected that to happen.

"My turn!" announced Icthior as he jumped high in the air, sword held high above his head.

_Think again. _Sky grinned to himself, watching Icthior waiting for the right moment to make his move. Seconds before Icthior landed on the ground with a striking blow Sky brought up his shield. But to his shocked surprise his shield distorted with Icthior blow, throwing Sky hard backwards against one of the mountainous rocks. Sky's body slammed hard against the rocks before dropping to the ground.

"Did you really think your puny shield could stand up to me?" exclaimed Icthior as he stood over Sky's stunned body, which was already starting to show signs of wear thanks to the collision with the rocks. A large cut was on the side of Sky's head, blood dripping down the side of his face. "You forget that I fight in the old ways of SPD." He reached down, grabbing Sky by the collar of his shirt. "You should have listened to the fish brothers. They're not as stupid as they look." He then tossed Sky into the air, turning quickly and kicked him hard in the gut, sending Sky crashing to the ground.

Sky felt winded as he grabbed a hold of his chest, gasping for air as he watched Icthior move back and forth waiting for him to get up to his feet. "Get up on your feet!" he heard him call out to him. "I want to know just how good a fighter Cruger made you into!"

There was no question in his mind, Icthior was one of the most powerful beings he had ever come face to face with, every blow had been brutal and felt with a blacking effect. Sky took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet, knowing he needed to get it together if he was going to stand a fighting chance. "Let's get it on, then."

"Cocky, aren't we?" He grinned. "I seem to recall that was your father's downfall."

"Yeah, well, I'm about to be _your_ downfall!" Sky jumped in the air, flipping midway through, as he morphed into the red Ranger and gave a striking blow into Icthior's chest as he landed on his feet, causing the traitor to fall back a couple of feet.

"Not bad. Cruger's taught you well, but you're still not strong enough to beat me." Icthior got in a fighting stance, sword ready for combat.

"We'll see about that!" exclaimed Sky as he drew forth his sword, preparing himself for sword to sword combat. Their swords clashed together, sparks flying around them, as they each fought valiantly against the other.

Icthior used great force every time he slammed his sword against the red Ranger's saber. "You were a great fighter and you threw it all away!" he heard Sky yell. He knew all too well that he held the advantage. Years ago he was top of his class in sword to sword combat, no one could beat him, not even Cruger, but the High Order had seen fit to appoint Cruger to the higher position which years later would lead him to being Commander of the Earth base and even Sirius before its destruction. That was all it took to make him turn. For years he had worked both sides, playing into the minds of SPD until he could make his move, getting the info he wanted.

"They threw me away a long time ago, when they gave Cruger the higher rank." His anger was flowing right through him and he was using it to his advantage, whacking Sky's saber harder with each blow. "Stronger!" CLANG. "Better!" CLANG. "…And quicker."

"And my father?"

"He was in the way. I wasn't about to let him or that arrogant partner of his treat me the way Cruger did. Not a human!" He began circling around Sky, unlike the human before him he couldn't be toyed with. Years ago he learned to use his anger and control in a way that would make him unstoppable, unlike Sky who could easily taken down just by using his own emotions against them.

"So you got Mirloc to kill them."

"Yes. It was quite easy actually; he was always looking for a better score. What better than two Rangers? But he was always a sly character, one who could never be trusted. I would have killed him myself if I could have, but seeing as how everyone thought I had been killed... I needed to stay dead, so that my cover would not be blown by that purplish freak." Even then he had known that Mirloc could not be trusted, but when things hadn't gone as he planned in the warehouse with the explosion Icthior had needed to get out of there, making everyone believe he had died in the blast.

"And for a number of years it worked, until he got word that I was alive and well."

"_You look rather marvelous for someone who's supposed to be dead." _

"_Mirloc, how'd you escape?" Icthior backed away from the mirror, looking over his shoulder slightly._

"_You really think I'm that stupid, Icthior?" He knew well enough that he wouldn't stand a chance against Icthior._

"_What do you want, Mirloc?"_

"_What do I want?" He laughed. "We both know you're not true to your promises."_

"_Looks who's talking, like you were ever one to be trusted."_

"_Fair enough. But then there is one secret of yours I have kept all these years; suppose I let it slip."_

"….but as chances would have it..." He grinned, smirking as he looked right at Sky. "You took care of my problem when you blew his brains out. …Tell me, Schuyler, how does it feel to know your friends died because of you?" Knowing what happened that day, how SPD Earth base lost four of its most powerful Rangers and humans in a matter of seconds, all thanks to their teammate. "That they bled to death and died in pain, because of you. How does it feel knowing you were the one who murdered your friends with your own bare hands?"

"Shut up!" Sky roared as he ran towards Icthior in a blind rage.

_Fool!_ With Sky's guard down, Icthior grabbed a hold of Sky, wrapping his arms tightly around the red Ranger, almost crushing his bones. "It's a good thing your father isn't around to see the worthless piece of shit you turned out to be." He then shoved Sky forward as he powered up his sword, slashing Sky against his back. Sparks flew as the red Ranger's body dropped to the ground, going into a very painful forced demorph. "Pathetic." He kicked Sky's battered body in the gut.

Sky groaned heavily, he wasn't sure exactly where he was bleeding, but he was sure it was in more than one place. He somehow managed to turn himself over on his back only to find Icthior standing over him, but in double. Sky was helpless as Icthior lifted him up to his feet, clutching him by his neck, choking him. Sky grabbed him by the wrists, trying to break his grip, but it was no use. Knowing he was only seconds away from everything going black, Sky kicked Icthior as hard as his body would allow him.

Icthior cried out and dropped Sky to the ground. "Why, you!" He lashed out at Sky, getting ready to punch him, but Sky blocked it just barely. "So you do have some fight left in you; too bad it won't be enough to save yourself."

"I don't care." Sky huffed out a heavy breath from exhaustion. "As long as you go down with me, that's all that matters." He then went and punched Icthior in the shoulder, only to be kicked in the shin. Sky blinked his eyes a few times; everything was starting to spin around in circles, he was losing focus, and his body couldn't take much more.

"It's time to end this!" Icthior in a quick motion turned around and round kicked Sky hard in the head, causing him to turn as if he were just a rag doll. Then for his final move he aimed his wrist right at Sky, he moved his forefingers towards him, which unlocked a crossbow-like weapon from his wrist. "Like father, like son…." He shot the arrow right at Sky, but as the arrow made contact a ship flew over them. "What?" Icthior looked up and saw an SPD ship coming in for a landing. "Now who?"

Sky lay on the rocky ground barely moving, his hand gripping around the arrow that had penetrated into his body. He was finding it hard to breathe and make sense of anything that was going on around him, nothing was clear, just a blur of images and darkness. He swore he could hear someone calling out his name, but didn't know who it belonged to. Seconds later Griffin, already in the blue Ranger suit, along with RIC, came running and dropped down next to Sky, who was drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Ah man, you don't look too hot," Griffin said, seeing the blood all over Sky's body.

"Arrow… Hurts… Have to…" Sky attempted to pull it out, only to have Griffin stop him.

"No. Don't, you'll bleed out," he firmly told Sky. "You need to stay with me, Sky. You have to hold on a little longer." He watched as Sky tried to speak again, but this time no words came out. "Just hold on."

"I'm afraid he doesn't have much to hold on to!"

Griffin turned around and found Sky's attacker standing before him, which could only be _one_ person. "Icthior!" Griffin could hear RIC barking aggressively next to him; it was like he knew who the man before them was. The young man stood up and walked around Sky, all the while keeping his eyes locked on Icthior. "RIC, stay with Sky while I take out the trash."

"Who are you?" demanded Icthior.

"It's of no concern to you," he exclaimed as he started approaching the rogue SPD officer. "So, shall we dance?"

Icthior laughed, he couldn't believe his ears. "You must be blind. Did you not see what I did to him? Do yourself a favor and leave before you end up just like him."

Griffin shook his head. "Sorry, no can do, you just became one of the top three most wanted criminals. So you see, I can't let you go."

"This is unlawful territory, SPD has no authority here."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not SPD."

"You're not even SPD?" he questioned. "Then how do you expect to beat me, boy?"

"Why don't you stop talking and we'll find out."

"Very well then," answered Icthior, believing it would only be a manner of minutes until the young man before him would crumble just like his fallen comrade.

Icthior jumped Griffin with intentions of smothering him, but Griffin had other plans. Having the advantage of knowing Icthior's exact move, he countered it, tossing him over his body. Shocked beyond belief, Icthior jumped to his feet just as Griffin turned to face him. "How did you do that? No one has ever been able to counter that move!"

"Well, I guess you're not as unbeatable as you think you are?" mocked Griffin as he got into a fighting stance. "Care to try again?"

Icthior tightened his fists again and charged at the young man, throwing in everything he had, every move he had learned over the years, but it didn't matter. Nothing. Every move and blow that he threw at Griffin was either blocked or countered with another move. And that's when it occurred to him. The boy knew what moves he was going to be making, every detail, every mark. "You're one of them!" He backed away a few feet, just staring at the blue Ranger. "You have a power." He briefly looked over at Sky's limp form, barely hanging on. "Just like him, but your power allows you to track whomever you choose, like a beacon."

"I think you have me confused with someone else, buddy," remarked Griffin, knowing that as long as Icthior didn't know who he was he still held all the cards.

"No. I don't think so," answered Icthior, shaking his head. "But what confuses me is that four of you are dead, none of which had this ability." Back when he was still part of SPD, he knew of the five children with powers. The Landers boy, Jack, had the ability of Molecularization, which allowed him to create forcefields, Bridge, the son of two great scientists, had the ability to sense what couldn't be seen. The young Miss Drew had the power of Elements, which allowed her to turn her body into any element she held in the palm of her hand, then there was Z with the ability of Replication, allowing her to create copies of herself. "…And you are not the boy who can teleport." He clenched his fists together, not taking his eyes off the blue Ranger, trying to figure out who he was. What he was missing here.

"Sorry _Icy, _you got the wrong guy."

"Wait just a minute…" And as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, a grin shined upon his face. "Yes," he hissed. "Yes, I know who you are, boy. How could I have forgotten so easily?" He started approaching Griffin, pleased that he had figured it all out. "She was pregnant with you when it happened. How I missed you and not the teleporter is beyond me."

"So you figured me out, big deal. You still won't walk away from here today, at least not without handcuffs.'

Icthior laughed at the blue ranger's remark. "You are about as cocky as you are stupid. And the only one that's not going to be walking away from here is _you_! Now that I know what your ability is, I will use it against you!" He stormed towards Griffin with his great force sword in hand, knowing he would have to outsmart the young blue Ranger.

Griffin managed to block a few moves and throw in a few of his own, but it was as if his tracker ability was beginning to become scrambled as Icthior quickened his pace in a such a way that Griffin was having trouble keeping up and started to lose his ground. He felt a sharp pain in his side as he dropped down to his knees.

"See. Looks like I'm not the only one that's not so unbeatable," smirked Icthior.

Griffin tightened his fists and jumped to his feet, going at Icthior with great force, throwing punches and kicks of all kinds, but not without taking a few hits to his own body. Icthior was a great swordsman and knew just where to strike. "I won't let you beat me, Icthior," exclaimed Griffin, as he grabbed a hold of Icthior's wrist, trying to break him free of the sword. "You will pay for your crimes, for all the pain and torment you caused." His voice was firm and he meant every word of it. "_I_ can promise you that!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, boy!" Icthior cried out as he pulled himself away from Griffin, sword still in hand, and in a quick motion he swirled around, striking the blue Ranger hard in the chest and sending Griffin's body spinning in the air and crashing to the ground.

Griffin cried out in pain as his body went through a forced demorph. He watched as Icthior loomed over his body, laughing as he started moving his sword in quick flashing sequences. With the little strength he had left he managed to roll himself over on his back, his eyes meeting with his soon to be killer. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest.

"Now this looks familiar," sneered Icthior, as he pointed his sword right at Griffin's neck. "Oh yes, this is just how your father looked just before I watched him and his partner die." Icthior was about to strike when RIC came roaring in, barking loudly in a way he never had before, his eyes bright red as he grabbed a hold of Icthior's wrist with his mouth, holding it in a death gripping bite, like he was a shark.

Seeing this as being his only chance to gather himself, Griffin pushed himself up and stumbled towards Sky, while RIC held onto Icthior for dear life.

"Let go, you stupid worthless piece of junk!" roared Icthior, as he tried to bat and whack the K9 holding onto his wrist; but no matter what he did, no matter how hard, RIC refused to let go; his bite got only harder. RIC's eyes lit up in dark red as he locked his eyes with Icthior, staring right through him. That was when Icthior remembered something.

Griffin stayed close to Sky, watching as Icthior became even more desperate to get RIC off of him, seconds later he saw RIC began to glow in shades of blue and red. _What's going on? _His heart skipped a beat, watching as Icthior's face became terrified. "Oh shit!" Griffin locked his eyes with Sky, who was just barely awake. "He's going to blow! Now would be a really good time for that shield of yours."

Sky never answered, his body hurt all over and he could barely see anything, all blurs of dark shadows, but seconds before RIC self-destructed he managed to put up a shield that protected him and Griffin from the blast. After the shield disappeared, Sky's hand went limp.

Griffin raised his head up, looking over at Icthior whose body lay on the ground unmoving, with the arm that RIC had been holding onto missing. He pushed himself up and started towards Icthior. Pieces of RIC were all over the place, only one piece looked to be intact. Griffin bent down and picked up the head of RIC, watching as the two red eyes faded away. Though he hadn't known RIC for long he was saddened by the sacrifice the robot had made. "Good boy, RIC."

Now he stood over Icthior's body, he was still alive, just barely, having difficulty breathing. It was a pitiful sight, because when he had fought against Icthior he could tell right away that he was a great fighter, and perhaps years ago before his mind had become corrupted, he had had honor. He kept his eyes locked with Icthior, watching as the life was slowly sucked through him, but he knew that would not do any good. Nothing would change. He started to turn away, when he heard a very faint voice. "Finish it…."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" And perhaps a part of him did want to be the one to finish him off, but he knew he couldn't, not without the cost of losing a piece of himself. He looked over his shoulder. "You betray your own, you die alone." And with those final words, Griffin walked away, never looking back. He bent down and picked up Sky's body and carried him towards the ship.

"It's too late…" Sky gasped faintly, as Griffin secured him in the ship. "It's over for me."

"Sorry, but I didn't come all this way to come back empty-handed." Griffin double checked where the arrow had gone through Sky's shoulder, while doing a quick check over his other injuries. He knew the chances of Sky surviving the travel back home to Earth were slim, but he had to try. "Here, this will help you breathe a little better." He put the mask over Sky's face. And before he headed into the pilot's seat, he looked Sky right in the eyes, watching as Sky's struggle to stay alive was slowly fading. "Stay. Stay, we'll be home soon."


	15. The Will to Live

Hours had passed since Griffin returned with Lt. Sky Tate, who had undergone surgery for his massive injures and the amount of blood he had lost. His injuries included a severely bruised shoulder where the crossbow had hit him, several bruised and nearly cracked ribs, but what concerned the doctors the most was his open head injury and the swelling around his brain which only seemed to get worse as time passed, which meant Sky was falling deeper and deeper into a coma.

Dr. Felix eyed Kat and Cruger, who stood around Sky's still form. "I've done all I can," he sighed heavily, knowing even that didn't seem enough. He had stopped counting the number of times he had treated Sky over the years due to injuries, but none of them had been as bad as this. Those other times he had known what was to be expected, but this time he …he just didn't know. "If the swelling doesn't start to go down soon, I'm afraid we may have to expect the worst." It was hard for the old doctor: twenty years before he had been unable to do anything to save Sky's father who had died at the scene; there had been hope for his uncle but sadly his attempts were unsuccessful and it seemed that perhaps history would repeat itself.

Kat smiled briefly. "Thank you, Dr. Felix, for everything that you have done."

"Of course." He smiled before he exited out of the hospital room.

Kat sighed heavily as she gripped Cruger's shoulder, knowing this was hard for him. It was hard on all of them, but she knew that her oldest friend felt responsible, feeling as though he was the one who had driven Sky down this path. She tried to find the words to say to him, to help him through his pain, but there was nothing she could say. Nothing that would make things better. Anything that could have been said had been said long ago. There was only one thing left for any of them to do, hope and pray that their young friend would come out of this and start to heal. Heal wounds that had needed to be healed long ago, but in order for that to happen it would be up to Sky to decide whether he wanted to live or if he really did want his life to be over with. For the past five years, death was all she had seen in his eyes and that was what was scaring her now.

Cruger couldn't bring himself to look away from Sky's battered form. A bandage lay where the young red Ranger's head had been cracked open; an even larger one was wrapped around his right shoulder. Kat had tried to warn him that this was coming, for years she had tried getting him to talk to Sky, getting him to forgive him for what had happened and really be there for him. And though he had figured all that out long before the injures that had placed him in this still form, he had reacted much too late, because the damage had been done. There was nothing he could do but hope that Sky would pull through this, so that he could set things right between the two of them and forgive him for all that had happened. "You are a fine Ranger and I will not make that mistake again."

No one knew what to expect, but time in the wake of this moment just seemed to stop. Everyone seemed to be at a loss, the academy was silent, as if he were already gone. It might even become the day the academy stood still…..

Boom was alone in his lab just staring at RIC's head, all that remained of the trusty robotic K9 that had been here since the beginnings of the Earth base for SPD over twenty years ago. Boom had joined the academy back in 2020, the same time Sky had, but he had lacked the skills to be a cadet, but thankfully Commander Cruger had seen some usefulness in him and assigned him to Dr. Kat Manx's department.

It had been hard at first, for a couple of months of so, but it had been RIC that had kept him company. And now his K9 friend was gone, and if something didn't change soon he could lose another friend. Though he and Sky weren't close, he did consider Sky one of his friends. He wanted to go see Sky, but he couldn't bring himself to leave this room. He was the type of guy who needed to stay busy, so that's what he was doing, staying busy. It was a long shot and he knew it might not be quite the same, but he would try to rebuild RIC the best he could, because he wanted to be able to fix something. He couldn't fix Sky, but just maybe he could fix this.

Sam was alone outside, sitting in front of the monument, resting his back against it with the weight and fear of knowing that Sky would soon just become another monument like this one, just another memory, a lost soldier whose death would come much too soon, just as it came to the four names scripted within the stone he laid his back against. He knew he should be in bed since it was after curfew, but he couldn't bring himself to sleep at a time like this, no matter how tired he felt. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to stay awake, and that was when he noticed four familiar faces staring down at him.

"Thought you could use some company," smiled Maxie as she handed Sam a cup of coffee, and she and the others sat down next to him.

Nothing else was said between them, but nothing needed to be said. It was enough just to know that they were there for him, even after everything that had happened between Brooke and Sky. Even the conflict between Luc and Sky, at least for the time being, did not seem to matter.

Griffin had wandered off a little way from the academy's grounds after the doctors had cleared him of just some minor bruises, nothing to worry about. He wanted to be alone for a while, get his priorities straight and try to come to terms with what the past two days had brought him. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, which had brought up things from his past. For so long he had gotten used to the idea, but now that had all changed and he could no longer pretend. He stared up at the star-covered sky, as if he were trying to find some sign that everything was going to be okay, his hands dug deep in his pockets.

"Hey."

He turned around and found Kris, his girlfriend, standing behind him. "Kris? Wh-what…."

"Your mom called me."

"How'd you know where to find me?" He hadn't told anyone where he was going. He hadn't even known, just started walking and had ended up here.

"I followed my heart." She smiled faintly. She could tell something was bothering him; she had tried to ask his mother, but she had told her that she needed to talk to Griffin about it, that it was not her place to say anything. "Are you okay, Griffin?"

"I'm fine. The doctors said I'm healthy as a horse." He grinned.

"That's not what I meant."

His smile faded. "I know." That was one of the reasons he loved her, she always seemed to know when something wasn't right; he couldn't ever keep anything from her …but that wasn't totally true. There was something about his past that he had been able to keep from her, but then again he had even been keeping it from himself. "Kris, you remember when we went on our first date and we talked about our families."

"Of course, how could I forget? You told me an amazing story about how much of a hero your father was, about all the people he helped. And how you hope to become half the man he was."

"Yeah." He bowed his head down, sighing. "I wasn't being totally honest with you."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. Griffin had never been one to lie to her face. They had always had a very honest relationship with each other, so this came as a surprise to her.

Griffin pulled a crumpled and worn photo from his pocket. His hand was almost crushing it as he handed it to her and just waited for the reaction on her face….

* * *

Ally lay on the couch with her young son Ryan curled up in her arms fast asleep. It was late, but after Luc had called her informing her of Sky's condition, she had been unable to move. A part of her had always known this day would come; it was why she had left Newtech in the first place, because she did not want to be here when it happened. She did not want to have to go to another friend's funeral.

Twenty four years old and she had already lost so many to death. The first had come with her mother, who had died when she was just a child, a little younger than her own son was now. Cancer was what had taken her mother. She really didn't remember her much, which made her very sad inside at times, because she wanted to remember. Remember something, anything ….anything at all. But all she really had was photographs and stories her father and aunt had told her, so even if she remembered something she could never be sure if it was something she had been told or if she really did remember.

The next losses in her life would come years later, but in the count of four. Bridge, Z, Syd and Jack. _Jack…._ Even five years later she still thought about him; he had been her first true boyfriend. Sure, there had been a few in high school, but nothing that would be long-lasting. Jack had been the first where she actually believed it would work out, unlike her past relationships. She would always treasure those months she had with him and the friends who she felt like she had known her whole life.

And now, Sky could become another life added to that list of lost loved ones. They might not be friends or much of anything, but that didn't mean she wasn't wishing and hoping that somehow he would pull through this, but…. She sighed heavily, not knowing what would be better. Would it be better for his life just to be over, so he would no longer have to live with the guilt that had been tormenting him for the past five years, or would it be better for him to live? Maybe it wasn't a question. It had always been clear what Sky wanted, he wanted the pain to go away. The only question there was and ever has been, was his will stronger than his will to live? That question scared her more then anything now, as she held the envelope in her hands that had been from Sky. She hadn't opened it yet, not wanting to give him the satisfaction, but now…

She smiled faintly as Ryan snuggled close to her. He was her whole world, her everything. Everything she had done had been for him; whether right or wrong it had been for him. She ran her hand through his hair as she pulled the blanket more around him to keep his warm. Her eyes fell once more to the envelope and what it held inside. Kat had told her that she should open it, so she could see what he had to say. But now she was thinking that perhaps she should open it more for someone else. Taking a deep breath, she opened the envelope and pulled out the letter that it held inside and began reading it. _"Dear Ally…."_

* * *

Sky opened his eyes. At first things were a bit blurry and fuzzy, but as everything started to clear he recognized where he was. He was back at the base. _How'd I get here? _Everything was a blur, the last thing he remembered was being struck by Ichtior and then someone wearing his old Ranger suit had rushed over to him. He looked around for a moment, but saw no one in his room. It seemed a bit odd to him, as in the past when he had been injured somebody had always been in the room, mainly to make sure he would at least stay put long enough to keep the doctors happy.

Figuring they were in the halls, he pulled himself out of bed and started to exit out of his room, when he saw someone pass by the door. "Hey…." But by the time Sky opened the door all the way, whoever it had been was nowhere to be seen. Sky looked down both ends of the hall but didn't see who had passed by his room; in fact he didn't see anyone. "What the hell?" He stepped outside the room, turning around in circles trying to find somebody, but no one was there. "Hello!" he shouted. "Is anyone there?" but no answer came. "What's going on here? Where is everybody?"

Wanting to get to the bottom of this, Sky started down one of the halls, determined to figure out what was going on here, but no matter where he went there was no one to be seen. The common room was completely deserted; a place that would normally be filled with cadets had nobody. Sky could feel his heart racing, fearing the worst had happened. He rushed out and headed straight for the Command Center, but just like everywhere else it was empty. The post where Cruger normally stood was bare. He could feel his heart racing faster, beating hard and pounding against his chest. He clutched it tightly, he couldn't breathe, as bright flashes flashed around him, and images emerged around him.

Suddenly, he could see himself lying on a bed; doctors and nurses were around him. They were using a defibrillator, shocking his chest. He saw his body jerk and jump. The doctors were talking, but he couldn't make out their words. Then….

"Ahhh…." Sky was lying on the ground now, he was back in the Command Center. It was slowly starting to become clear to him what was going on. "…I'm dying."

"Not yet you're not!" exclaimed a voice. "At least, not if we have anything to say about it."

Sky's eyes widened as he saw four very familiar faces hovering around his body. He couldn't believe it. It just couldn't be possible; there was no way this could be happening. Scared to death and not having a clue what the hell was going on, he started backing away from them, until he was backed up agaisnt a wall and he couldn't go any farther. He watched as they started to approach him. "This isn't real. You guys are dead." There right before his eyes stood Jack, Z, Bridge and Syd, looking right at him, as if that horrible day had never happened.

"Oh, you can bet your life on it that this is really happening," exclaimed Z.

"Well, actually Z, this is more-"

"Sorry Bridge, but we don't have the time for one of your long explanations," Jack interrupted as he waved Bridge off before he turned to look back at Sky, looking him right in the eyes wanting to make it perfectly clear. "There isn't much time."

"What are you talking about? Not much time for what?" he asked, as he stood back up, staring at all of them. He wasn't sure what to make of this at the moment. Questions were roaming around in his mind and the more he tried to figure things out, the more questions he had. Maybe this was just a dream, but it just felt too real to be just a dream.

"For you, Sky," whispered Sydney, her bright blue eyes sparkling back at him.

"Me?" He was bewildered, not sure what they were trying to tell them. None of this made any sense.

Jack nodded his head. "Yes, Sky, you don't have much time left." The former leader of B squad knew that in order for them to succeed they needed to get through to Sky. They needed to help him, show him the way. "That's why this is happeneing, why we're all here."

"What?" Sky shook his head, just not getting it, but as their words played over and over in his mind it became clear as day. He just had to look at the expressions on their faces to know what was really going on here. He then knew where he really was and it wasn't the Command Center, no matter how much it looked like it. "I'm dying, aren't I?" He didn't even need them to answer, because he knew deep within his gut that he was. "And let me guess, you're here to tell me to fight to live?" He exclaimed, as he looked them all hard in the eyes. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes," answered Jack.

Sky angrily shook his head. "No!" he announced. "You can forget about it, you're wasting your time, because I _don't_ want to fight. I am done fighting." He rolled his eyes at all of them, angry that they were even attempting to try to convince him otherwise. "So just go back to wherever the hell it is you came from. I don't want your help." He sighed heavily. "I don't want anything….."

Jack couldn't believe his ears. Where was the Sky who would fight to the very last breath? He got right in Sky's face. "You told me once that your father fought right to the bitter end, so now you want to give up because you messed up _once_?" He just shook his head in disapointment. "I guess you aren't much like your father after all."

"Screw you, Jack!" yelled Sky, as he took a swing at him, causing Jack to drop to the ground. _He just doesn't get it! _"I didn't just mess up, I _blew it_!" No matter how anyone looked at it or tried to make things sound better, one thing would never change. "It's _my_ fault!" He pointed his finger at himself. "It's my fault. You're all dead because of me. I was the one that got all of you killed." It pained him to talk about it, seeing them there standing in front of him, knowing that no matter how real they seemed, they were still dead because of him. "It was by my hands that you all died and there is nothing you can say that will ever change that." He licked his lips as tears fell from his eyes. "I know it, because the images are burnt into my head. I see it every day. Every day I have to live that day over again, so _excuse_ me if I don't want to fight anymore!"

"Sky, please…." pleaded Syd, as she tried to reach out to him, but he only turned away and stormed out of the Command Center.

He couldn't deal with this. He didn't want to. It was just too much….. That was when he found himself in his dorm room, and the moment he set foot inside his eyes fell upon the picture of his father and him back when he was just a boy, back to a time when life did matter to him. "All I ever wanted was to be like him," he sighed, as he picked the photo up, looking back to happier times, but he had failed a thousand times over. He was nothing like the man his father had been, not even close.

"You still can be," came Syd's voice ever so softly, as she reached out to grip his shoulder. "But that means you have to go back; it's not your time to go yet."

"Why should I be able to live?" He wanted an answer, …no, he _needed_ an answer. Why had his life been spared that day? Why hadn't he died too? Why was his life so damn much more important than theirs? "When I don't deserve it?" He turned to face Syd, looking deep into her eyes, taking her hands into his. "Why was my life more important than yours and the others? You tell me that, Syd, and I'll go. I'll go back and live my life, knowing that will have to be enough"

Syd sighed heavily as her head fell. She wanted to give him an answer, because she could see deep within her soul that he needed one; just like the need for air in order to breathe, he needed to know. Her eyes filled with tears. "It's not that simple, Sky, I-I wish I could give you a clear answer, but I _can't_." It broke her heart, watching as Sky's face fell and he let go of her hands. "All I know is you have to go back; there are things you still need to do."

"The world still needs Sky Tate," smiled Z faintly, as she and the others joined the two. "Besides, Sam would be lost without you."

"No." Sky shook his head. "Trust me; they're better off without me. All I have done is cause pain to everyone who comes my way."

"If you go back, you would be able to change all that," added Bridge. His face then fell because he knew how badly Sky was hurting inside; he could sense the pain and it was unlike any sadness he had ever felt. "But if you stay, you'll be causing a lot more pain. You may not think it now, but there are lots of people back there who do need you in their lives."

A few moments passed before Sky's and Jack's eyes fell on one another. Though they hadn't known each other longest they had a long history with each other, with many up and downs. "We all know it wasn't you, Sky, we knew that it was Wootox." Before everything went dark and the life was sucked from him, he had learned the true identity of his killer. The last words Jack had heard before he had died was Wootox telling him in Sky's voice, that it was him. "He killed us, not _you_."

"That still doesn't change things," answered Sky firmly. "It was my idea to go…." His voice was almost cracking, because it hurt so _damn _much. He looked Jack in the eyes, hating to admit it. "You were right all along about Dru, but I didn't want to listen. I didn't want to hear it and because of that you all died, because of me." The pain just had become too much for him to live with, he didn't want to fight it anymore.

He was thankful for what they were tying to do and that even after everything, that they still thought of him as a friend, but he just wanted all the pain to be gone. "I know what you're trying to do, but I just can't do this anymore. You can't make me go back, that's out of your power." The decision lay with him. If he wanted his life to be over, it could be over in the blink of an eye.

"You're right; we can't make you go back. It's your life, your choice." Jack could see that what had happened really had messed with Sky in more ways than one, it had forever changed the young man, and in a way perhaps part of Sky had died that day. "But there is one thing that is within my power, that I can do," announced Jack as he stepped forward. "No matter what you decided, let me take the burden of that day from you."

"It's not yours to take," answered Sky.

"Yes it is!" exclaimed Jack. "It was mine, the moment I agreed to go to the training planet; it was mine when I didn't listen to my gut feeling."

Sky couldn't believe what he was hearing, never would he have thought in a million years that Jack would take the fall, but even so he wasn't about to let him take it. "I was the one that convinced you and the others to go. Dru was my friend."

"And I could have said no," answered Jack. "I could have said it a hundred times that day, but I didn't. Cruger made me squad leader, the ball was in my court and I didn't make the call." He watched as Sky turned away from him, but he wasn't about to give up. "Look, Dru was your friend, you trusted him with your life and he let you down and betrayed you in the worst way possible." He reached out and gripped Sky by the shoulder. "But that does not mean you should have to pay for his wrongdoings."

"Why shouldn't I?" he questioned, looking them all in the eyes. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."

"Because we forgive you," announced Z.

"Why?" He couldn't begin to comprehend, because in his mind he didn't deserve it.

"Because that's what friends do, they forgive each other," announced Syd as she stared deeply into his eyes, hoping to get through to him.

"No matter what, we'll always be here for you, Sky," added Bridge.

"Please Sky, let me help you carry the weight that has caused you so much grief," pleaded Jack, as he held out his hand. "You shouldn't have to carry it alone."

Should he allow Jack to do this? Should he fight for his life? Should he not give up? Those questions were roaming around in his head, but then something Jack had said earlier played over in his head. _'You told me that your father fought to the bitter end.' _His father had been his hero and had always told him never to give up, no matter how hard things were, no matter how much it hurts, to never give up, not without a fight, because if you stop fighting for what's important, then nothing would matter, all would be lost. "There's got to be something left that's worth living for." He heard Jack say.

As hard as it would be to go back and the things he would have to face, there was something that would be worth it. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but nothing that is worth fighting for ever is. "You always were good at convincing people," said Sky, as he gripped Jack's hand in a firm handshake.

"Well, you got to be when you live on the streets." He smiled back at him. "I can't promise it will be easy, but things will get better." Jack slowly released Sky's hand as a bright light appeared behind him. "Looks like our work here is done," He said as he disappeared into the bright light.

"What's going on?" Sky was not sure of what was happening.

"It's time for us to go back and time for you to start living." Z smiled as she slowly faded into the bright light. "Take care of yourself, Sky."

"Goodbye Sky. I want you to know, I always thought of you as my big brother." And with those final words Bridge too went into the light, just as Jack and Z had before him.

Now all that remained was Sydney, she stood in front of him now smiling bright, happy with the fact that he wasn't coming with them, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Sky took one of her hands into his. "Syd, I-"

Syd pressed her fingers to his lips. "It's okay. I know." A few seconds passed with them just staring into each other's eyes "Just know that no matter how far apart we are, that we'll always be with you."

He knew it would make things harder, but he couldn't hold it back, because it was something he needed. He leaned closer to her, as he wrapped his arms around her, knowing that seconds from now she would have to leave and that it would be a long time before he would see her again. No words were spoken, as he pressed his lips firmly onto hers, wanting to feel the taste of her lips against his, the feeling of her body around his, even for just a moment.

Slowly Syd parted just inches away, her eyes locked with his. She knew if she asked him to that he would go back with her. She loved him with all her heart, but knew she needed to let him go, because when you love somebody, sometimes you have to let them go. "It's time for me to go, Sky, and then it will be time for you to go back."

Already he could start to feel the place he was in shimmer around him. He was starting to wake up, but he kept his eyes locked on Sydney, wanting to remember this moment, because he knew the moment he woke up that he probably wouldn't remember any of this. "Goodbye Sydney." The moment he let go of her hand, he watched as the beautiful bright light surrounded her and seconds later she was gone. A few moments passed with him just standing there, taking it all in, and then taking a deep breath. "I'm ready now. I want to live…."


	16. Expect The Unexpected

Sky stirred awake, feeling the light above him stinging his eyes. The room seemed to spin around him, as everything started to come to. He closed his eyes for a few moments, and then opened them back up; that seemed to take care of some of the dizziness he was feeling. His body hurt like hell, even his hair seemed to hurt. He couldn't remember much about what had happened, just getting the shit beat out of him, then this flash of a blue figure coming to his rescue. …The next thing he remembered was being rushed down the medical wing of the academy, muttering something that he really couldn't remember much of anything about, as if he had been someplace else that he couldn't remember.

His mouth and lips were dry. He could hear someone moving around to his side near the windows. Figuring it was Dr. Manx or one of the other doctors, he turned his head as much as he could. But what he found was not a doctor, but a woman with shoulder length brown hair with her back towards him. Even though he couldn't see her face, he knew right away who the woman was. _What's she doing here? _He had put that part of his past behind him years ago.

_….Sky and Bridge were in their room; it was parents' day, and as usual Bridge was gathering up his latest inventions to show off, while Sky was on lying on his bed reading the SPD Handbook. _

_"Hey Sky, why aren't you getting ready? We're supposed to be in the assembly hall in ten minutes," asked fifteen year old Bridge, who was more than a little curious as to why his friend wasn't budging._

_"I'm not attending it," he turned the page of his book. "….Never have."_

_"Why not?" asked Bridge, as he set down two of his inventions and walked over to his friend who in the past year had sort of become like an older brother to him. "I mean, I know your dad isn't around anymore. But don't you have a mom?" he asked him. "….I mean, I know you have a mom, everyone has a mom. What I meant to say is, won't she be there?" _

_Sky seemed more than a little irritated by the question, but given that it was Bridge asking he let it pass. "No, she won't be there," he answered. "We're not exactly close."_

_"Oh…" But that drew in even more questions and Bridge wasn't one to stop until he got to the bottom of it. "Why is that?"_

_"….Why is what?" asked sixteen year old Sydney as she walked into the boys' room, wondering what was taking them so long. _

_"Why Sky and his mother aren't close." _

_"Bridge!" exclaimed Sky, not liking that he had now brought Sydney into his personal matters. He didn't like it when everyone tried to get involved into his personal life._

_"…Sorry, I didn't realize that it was something you wanted to be a closed book."_

_Sky just shook his head; why Cruger had teamed him with these two he didn't know. He felt he worked better on his own anyways, ever since Dru, his best friend and former roommate, had been reassigned, there was no one else he had wanted to be paired with, but Cruger went against his wishes and teamed up the trio, saying it would be a 'learning experience'. "…Look, if I tell you why, will you two just leave it alone?"_

_"Yes, of course," answered Syd._

_"My lips are sealed," added Bridge._

_He eyed the two, as if he were still debating whether he should tell them or not, but knowing he had made a promise and that they wouldn't stop until they knew. He had little choice but to tell them his story. "She was set against me joining the academy when I was fifteen. She wouldn't sign the release forms, so I took matters into my own hands; I was able to emancipate myself right away, given the fact I wanted to go to the academy and that I had already been accepted, the judge granted it right away." He looked the two in the eyes. "We haven't talked since."_

_"…So you haven't talked to your mother in three years?" questioned Bridge; it just didn't seem possible to him._

_"Yes, Bridge!" answered Sky, slightly annoyed. "I can count."_

_"That's so sad," cried Sydney. It really did break her heart to know that Sky and his mother were estranged, that they hadn't talked in three whole years. "I don't know what I would do if I hadn't talked to my mother in three years or for any amount of time."_

_"Yeah… Well, it's her own fault, if she had been more accepting of me joining the academy then that wouldn't have happened." _

_"Yeah, but I mean, she's your mother, Sky." Sydney just couldn't believe how heartless and resentful her young eighteen year old friend seemed to be towards the very woman that gave birth to him. "Did you ever think that maybe the reason she didn't want you to join was because she was afraid that she'd lose you, just like she lost your father?" _

_"Look, I didn't ask for your advice," snapped Sky. "You wanted to know why my mother and I don't speak to each and I told you. End of story." He looked Syd hard in the eyes. "Just leave it alone, Syd." He eyed them both firmly. "Both of you."_

….Just as his mother turned around to face him, Sky turned his head away. He did not want to have to deal with her now, not just after having waking up after God knows how long he had been out, …especially not after it being ten years since he last saw her.

"Oh thank God, you're awake," she cried, as she rushed over to him. She started to reach out to him, but Sky turned away from her touch, wanting to make it perfectly clear that he didn't want anything to do with her and that he hadn't forgotten what she _hadn't_ done for him.

"Why are you here?" he asked hoarsely.

She was slightly hurt by her son's rejection, but she could understand it. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other in a little over a decade, some of which she felt had been her fault. "Commander Cruger called me, told me what was going on." It had been the call she had always feared would come, just as it had when the man she loved had fallen all those years ago.

"I've been hurt before," he remarked sharply. "Why should this time be any different?"

She sat down next to him, knowing she was going to have to take things slowly with him after everything Kat and Commander Cruger had told her about Sky's personal issues, his emotional status, reckless behavior after the loss of his team and the betrayal of Dru. "They didn't know if you were going to make it at first."

"Well, I didn't ask you to be here," he hissed almost painfully, because his throat felt dry and weak. He could feel all his anger and hurt feelings from ten years before coming back to him at full force. "I didn't need you five years ago and I sure as hell don't need you now." He looked her hard in the eyes. "Why haven't you just left already? It's been twenty years; Dad's not coming back, so why don't you just go back to your _home_?"

She sighed heavily, knowing she wouldn't be able to talk to him when he was like this. Sky's mother got up from her seat and started towards the door, hoping that her son would cool down so that she could talk to him later. Before she left the room, she turned towards him. "I'll always be there for you, Sky, when you need me."

"Just like you were there for me when I told you I was joining the academy?" he answered flatly, as he turned his face away, no longer able to even look at his own mother.

* * *

"I wish I could stay longer, but I really need to be heading back to Silver Hills," sighed Kris, not really wanting to leave Griffin at a time like this, especially after what he had told her a couple of nights ago. "You going to be okay?"

Griffin smiled as he took her hand, looking into her eyes. "Yeah. I'll be fine, nothing I can't handle." He leaned in and softly kissed her lips, knowing that it might be a few or so more days until he got to do it again. Though a part of him wanted her to stay, just to be there for him over these next few days as everything got sorted out, he also knew this was something she could not help him with, no matter how much they both would want it that way.

"Hey, pretty boy, what are you doing here?" exclaimed Luc, as he and Matt pulled onto the side of the road in front of a downtown restaurant, out on one of their daily patrols of the city.

"Watch it, commando, you're going to make my girl jealous," joked Griffin as he turned to Luc, while keeping one arm locked around Kris.

"You didn't say he had a name for you too," laughed Matt, as he playfully swatted Luc on the back. "Works for you too, since you are the offspring of military parents." Matt just got a kick out of it, because he knew that Luc was still pretty upset that he had gotten the snot kicked out of him by the young man before him. "I'm Matt Jones, by the way," announced Matt, putting out his hand as he ignored the dirty look that Luc was giving him.

"Well, since you already know who I am," Griffin firmly shook Matt's hand and then introduced his girlfriend, "I'd like you to meet Kris O'Connor."

Matt couldn't help but find that Kris was a very attractive young woman. He shook her hand. "Griffin is one lucky guy."

"Yeah, he is." She grinned over at her boyfriend. "Well, I should be going." She quickly kissed Griffin on the cheek, then met eyes with both Matt and Luc. "It was very nice meeting both of you." Griffin waved goodbye as Kris got in her car and drove off, heading back to Silver Hills.

"So, don't suppose you guys could give me a lift back to the academy?"

"Your girlfriend couldn't give you a lift?" asked Luc sharply.

"Actually we were staying at the hotel across the street, along with my mother, who's at the academy right now. She told me to call her once Kris and I got done with lunch, but since I ran into you two and if you're headed to the academy now-"

"Yeah. Yeah, get in the jeep," muttered Luc.

Griffin just grinned. "You're not still upset about me making a fool out of you on the floor matt now, are you?"

"Yeah. I'd like to see how you are without your special ability."

"You name when and where and I'll be there," answered Griffin as he got into the back seat of the jeep.

"Now this is something I have to see," exclaimed Matt as he climbed in.

* * *

Sky's mother had found herself wandering over to her son's dorm room, so much different from the room he had back at their old home. This room was smaller, but not too small. She took a look around, trying to get to know her son by the way his room looked. It was clean; everything was in its place. He definitely liked to be organized. He had a few books on his shelf, mostly consisting of SPD and military tactics, much like he had back in his childhood room. There were a few weights and a punching bag, so he could stay in shape, but the two things that caught her eye were an old photo taken twenty years ago and a helmet she hadn't seen in years. It nearly made her heart stop.

She picked up the photo, staring at it longingly, running her thumb over the faces of the little boy and young man.

_"Okay guys, smile,' exclaimed Jen, as she stood in front of her husband and young son who were posing for their picture to be taken. "Sky, honey, smile for Mommy."_

_"Yeah, come on sport," Wes encouraged his son._

_"But a Ranger is supposed to be serious," the young boy answered proudly._

_Wes laughed and grinned up at Jen. "Hey, don't look at me, we both know he didn't get being serious from me." _

The memory slowly faded away as a few tears dropped onto the frame. A lot had changed since that day. "Things have really changed around here since you've been gone, Wes." She set the picture back on the nightstand and lay down on her son's bed, staring up at the ceiling. Had someone told her twenty-five years ago this was where she'd be, that her husband would be dead, that she and Sky would be estranged from each other, she'd probably throw them through the nearest wall. But that's what had happened, that's where she was.

It had not been the ideal dream she had when she had come up with a plan to remain here with Wes back in 2002. She had been chasing three fugitives and had made sure to drop off the radar, not contact her home base back in 3001, wanting them to believe that she had either been killed or had sacrificed herself to stop the Mutorgs. But of course her friends found out when they arrived, but promised that when they reported back home they would tell the captain they found no trace of Jen Scotts and believed she had been killed.

Wes and she would later marry, just around the time when Bio-Lab and SPD were combining resources. She, Wes and Eric had all teamed up together to be the first SPD Rangers. Just a couple of years later they found out she was pregnant with Sky; they hadn't planned on having children, being afraid that it could blow her cover and that Time Force would find out she was here. They had talked about putting him up for adoption for his protection, but soon after he was born and she held him in her arms for the first time, both Wes and she couldn't part with their son. Not long after his birth they learned about his ability, a genetic enchantment, that was a product of an experiment Wes had been involved with in 2001. As a result Jen gave up being a Ranger so that she could be there for Sky, and decided to start going into Bio-Lab more, taking part in the business.

Five years. Five wonderful years they were a happy little family …or about as happy as they could be. After only eight years of marriage things started to get rough on her and Wes's relationship, they were arguing a lot more than normal, which she was sure had been very hard on Sky, knowing on a few occasions he had walked in on them in the heat of an argument, which in turn could have been the start of what had put a strain on their relationship.

The arguments had all started when Wes had started working almost twelve hour shifts, going back and forth between Newtech and Silver Hills. That combined with his father finding out he had terminal cancer; it was taking its toll on everyone, especially Wes. Even Eric was concerned about the amount of stress Wes was under and had tried to get him to take some time off, but Wes wouldn't have it. The last day she had seen him alive, they had had an argument. She couldn't even remember what it was about, probably something stupid and during the middle of it, he had gotten _the call_. …

She never got to feel his lips against hers, never got to hold him in her arms once more, she was never able to tell him how much she loved him and how glad she was to be with him. No, a stupid argument over nothing had taken that from her, And to make matters worse, Wes had not been the only one they lost that day. Eric had been killed as well, though not right away. He had lived long enough to be taken to the hospital and undergo surgery, but didn't survive.

But the tragedy didn't end there. Just a few short months later Alan Collins died, having lost his battle with cancer. It had just been too much for him, with the losses of both Wes and Eric, dying in the line of duty. He just couldn't fight any longer. In his will he had left the mansion and Bio-lab in her care, with more than enough money.

Those next ten years had been the hardest. Philips had stayed with her for as long as he could, until he got too old and needed to retire, and then Mike Zaskin and Steve Miller had been there for her, but everyone else… Everyone she had ever loved or who knew her was no longer with her, her friends, her family, they were all gone. It had been a lonely and difficult time for her, perhaps that was why she was set against Sky joining the academy, even though years earlier it had been agreed upon that he would join, due to his special ability that was a result of an accident that happened in 2001 when Wes's DNA, along with a number of other peoples had been exposed to some sort of radiation and had been altered.

_"Mom, can you sign this?" asked fifteen year old Sky, as he walked up to his mother who was sitting at her desk looking over papers. He placed the form in front of her and stood with his hands behind his back. "I just received it in the mail today, I was accepted."_

_Jen stared down at the form. Her eyes couldn't get past the big bold letters __**ENTRANCE INTO SPD ACADEMY ACCEPTANCE FORM.**__ They needed her to sign a release so that the academy would know she approved and was allowing her son to attend. "You're not going to go to the academy, Sky," she said, as she moved the form to the side and went back to her work. "I'm sorry."_

_"What!" He couldn't believe his ears. After all the hard work he had done, the training, his studying, getting good grades. "You have to be kidding me. I was accepted. They want me there and I want to go."_

_"Well, I don't want you to go." She looked up at him firmly, not liking his tone with her. "I'm your mother and what I say goes."_

_Sky couldn't believe it. How could she do this to him? Didn't she know how important this was to him? SPD has been all he had ever dreamt of, worked so hard to get into, ever since he was a child. He had done every possible thing in the last ten years, just so that he could get this acceptance letter, and now his mother had crushed all of that in one instant. "Dad would've let me go." _

_"He probably would have," she answered softly, never meeting his eyes. "But he isn't here …I am. It's my decision." She took the form and tossed it in the trash, wanting that to be the end of it. "So just leave it at that."_

_Sky just shook his head and dug his hand into the trashcan. "We'll just see about that," he muttered, as he marched out of her office room. "I will be attending the academy in the fall, one way or another, I will be going. …And you won't be able to stop me!" _

And sure enough that's what had happened. A week later Sky met with a lawyer and Commander Cruger about getting himself emancipated, and unlike most cases, Sky's flew on by before her very eyes. The judge granted it. Sky's grades were high, he had never been in any trouble, he was mature beyond his years and the SPD Academy was known to be one of the best military schools in the country. But the thing that still bothered her most wasn't that he wanted to leave and attend the academy, but that he felt that he had to hurt her, because shortly thereafter he changed his last name to Tate, wanting to do away with any connection to her, to show that he had control over his own life now.

She had tried to stay in contact with him, sending him cards, wanting to visit, but he didn't want anything to do with her. Every card she sent was sent right back to her, and after a while she just stopped sending them. She missed her boy; she missed having him in her life. And she had often wondered how things would be today if she had been more accepting of him joining the academy. Why had she been so set against it? She knew why: she was afraid that the same fate that found his father and uncle would eventually find her son, and she just couldn't bear to go through that pain all over again. But that wasn't the only reason why. Sky had inherited her stubbornness, and once he got something in his head there was no stopping him. Even when he was still a boy she could see that determination in his eyes, he wanted to avenge his father's death and that had scared her more than anything, because there had been a time in her life years ago when she had felt the same way and nearly gotten herself killed.

All she could hope was that with a little time and effort she would get her son back. Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the room, not looking where she was going and ran right into a woman a little older than herself. "Sorry, wasn't looking where I was going," Jen apologized as she stepped back, then doing a double-take and looking at the woman before her with blonde hair. The former Pink Ranger widened her eyes. "Taylor? Is that really you?'

The woman with blonde hair took a moment, just staring at the woman before her, and then her eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. "Jen!" she exclaimed excitedly, as she threw her arms around her old friend. "It's been too long…"

* * *

"You could have been a little nicer to her," exclaimed Kat, as she checked over Sky's vitals.

"I just woke up from a coma, so I'm sorry if the first person I see wasn't someone I was expecting," answered Sky. "Besides, I have enough things I need to deal with already and I don't recall anyone asking me whether you could contact her."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but…" Kat tightened one of Sky's bandages, which caused him to flinch, "given the fact that you went after Icthior alone and nearly got yourself killed, we really couldn't ask for your input in the matter," remarked Kat sharply as she finished with the bandages. "And maybe your relationship with your mother is one of those things that needs fixing," she continued harshly as she stared him down.

"What happened to Icthior?" he asked, not wanting to get into any more conversation about his mother.

"You don't remember?" asked Kat, though it wasn't unexpected given what Sky's body had gone through. She might even be concerned if he didn't have some memory loss.

"Not really." He shook his head. "Just bits and pieces, nothing that really makes any sense. I know someone wearing the blue Ranger suit jumped in, other than that it's a blank."

Kat contemplated for a moment as to how much she should tell him. "Yes, he was the one who brought you back home. If it hadn't been for him, you'd probably be dead."

"What about Icthior, is he dead, did he kill him?"

"No, he didn't." Kat licked her lips. She sighed heavily. "Icthior proved to be too much for him, he almost lost his own life fighting him."

"So then how'd he get us out of there?"

"RIC…"

"RIC?" Sky questioned, not seeing how RIC could have saved them.

"RIC attacked Icthior, then went into self-destruct mode to save both of you." She paused a moment, just looking in his eyes trying to see his reaction.

"Why would have RIC done that?" questioned Sky. "That wasn't in his programming."

"I don't know." Kat shook her head; she was just as surprised as he was. "Boom is looking into it."

Sky was silent for a moment; he didn't know what to think, especially since he had never been that nice to RIC, but no matter what RIC always seemed to hang close to him for some reason. "Will Boom be able to rebuild RIC?"

Kat smiled faintly. "The damage was pretty severe, which is why it's taking Boom so long to scan his memory data bank. Chances are we won't be able to rebuild him. We could try, but he may not be the same RIC." She could tell that it was hard for Sky to hear; RIC, after all, had been part of the team and though he never acted as though he cared about RIC, she could tell that he did. "I'm sorry, Sky."

"Yeah. It's okay, just thought I'd ask."

* * *

Jen and Taylor sat outside of the academy on a bench catching up on lost time. "I was surprised you didn't show for the funerals," said Jen, as she looked her old friend, who she had not seen in two decades, in the eye. She would be lying if she said it didn't bother her, that it didn't hurt that Taylor never showed or even tried to contact her. "Never even heard from you, in all these years."

Taylor sighed heavily, knowing how that must have hurt Jen after having been pretty close, but Jen was not the only one she had lost touch with. She had lost touch with her old friends; she hadn't meant to, it was just something that had happened. But in the last couple of years she had been slowly regaining a relationship with them. Cole and Alyssa had six kids, four boys and two girls. She had been there for their wedding just a couple of years before Eric and Wes had been killed. Danny and Kendal had married and had two children, and were happy as ever. Max had even found someone. They had been unable to have children of their own so they had decided to adopt. As for Merrick, no one really ever heard from him again, some of them would swear that every once in a while they would have a feeling he was watching them. She herself could swear she had even caught a glimpse of him years ago.

"I had a lot going on around that time ….I was confused and upset …angry." She bit her lip as she played with her hands sitting in her lap, recalling the reason why she had left Silver Hills. "Eric and I never had the greatest of relationships …we were always on a break more than we were together." She couldn't even begin to count the number of times she and Eric had broken up and gotten back together over the course of their eight year relationship.

Jen had to admit that Taylor and Eric's relationship was a hard one for the two to maintain. While at times they seemed perfect for each other, other times they seemed like they needed to be kept in different time zones. They were always arguing about something. Jen could recall numerous times that Wes and she had been on a double date with the two when something would happen that would cause one of them to get up and leave.

"But I should have been there for you," admitted Taylor, knowing how hard it must have been for Jen during that time. "I knew you didn't really have anyone, you had given up everything to be with Wes. I should have been there." She sighed heavily as she looked her in the eyes, hoping that one day Jen would forgive her. "And I'm sorry that I wasn't."

Jen smiled faintly, she could tell that Taylor meant what she said and she could tell that, as much as her old friend tried to hide it, those last twenty years had hurt her too. "It's okay; it was a long time ago."

"Yeah, it was." The former yellow Ranger nodded her head, smiling faintly. "…So you never said what you were doing here?" They had been so caught up with catching up, that neither one had said what they were doing at the academy.

"Schuyler was hurt-"

Taylor's eyes widened. "Is-is he okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern as she looked at Jen, watching as the emotions in her friend's eyes began to unfold, which only made her heart race, fearing the worse. "Jen…"

Jen sighed heavily, she had never really talked about what had happened between her and Sky to anyone, because it just had been too hard, too painful. "Years after Wes, Eric, and Alan died, Sky left home to come here, to the academy. I didn't want him to go, but he figured out a way. …He even changed his last name." She bowed her head down; no words could describe the hurt she felt when her son turned away from her. "Today was the first time in ten years that I saw him."

"Oh Jen… I'm so sorry."

Jen smiled faintly. "It's okay. Over time I got used to it, but seeing him today, after all these years. …He still hates me for it."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you, maybe he's just confused right now." She wrapped her arm around Jen. "He'll come around." At least, that's what she was hoping would happen.

"I hope so…."

"…If you don't mind me asking, what did Sky change his last name to?"

"Tate. He changed it to Tate, why that I don't know."

"_Tate_?"


	17. Guilt of The Past

A couple of days had passed since he had woken up from his coma. He was moving around, a little unsteady, but enough to make the doctors happy. He was back in his dorm room, but with Kat checking in on him every couple of hours. He hadn't left his room other than to have a scan of his head to make sure that everything was as it should be. In all that time he had not seen his mother since he had woken up, not that she hadn't tried to come and see him. He just hadn't been in the mood to talk to her and at the moment he wasn't sure if he ever would be. Ten years. Ten long years, that's what it had been since he left Silver Hills, his mansion home, his family, all so he could come here. For as long as he could remember all he had ever wanted was be the _best_, a Ranger like his father. …But after everything that had happened in the last five years, he wasn't so sure if he still wanted that dream.

He hated being stuck in his room with nothing to do but lie around and stare up at the ceiling, and then having to deal with anyone who dropped on by. It had been just over an hour since Boom stopped by to say hi. As hard as he always had been on Boom the guy was always awfully nice to him despite it. The two had known each other for years, in fact they had come to the academy around the same time, just a few days apart, and had almost been assigned to the same dorm room, but a last minute switch changed all that. Though they had known each other for a little over ten years, they never really had been friends. Sky could remember that he and Dru had played a few practical jokes on Boom, most of them harmless, just a couple of kids being stupid. Looking back now, he had to wonder how things might have been different he had become friends with Boom instead of Dru. Of course he had no way of knowing back then that Dru would turn on him. Does anyone really know how the friendships they make in life could determine a chain of events? He sure didn't, because if he had…. Sky let out a heavy sigh, knowing that thinking about what, if, or how he could have been different wouldn't change things. The only thing he could do was concentrate on the now, because you can't change a 'what if' no matter how badly you want to.

Sam and Brooke were in his room now, two people whose concern and friendship he knew he didn't deserve, not after the way he had treated them. Sam had been there for him from the start, but he had pushed him away, but even so Sam wasn't about to give up. Then there was Brooke, whose feelings he had hurt badly and could have done a lot worse if Luc hadn't stopped him.

"How you feeling?" asked Sam, taking in Sky's visible injuries. He knew that physically and emotionally it might be a while until Sky Tate was going to be back out in the field. Though he hated seeing him like this, in some ways it was almost like a blessing, perhaps now Sky would allow himself to heal so he could truly move forwards.

"Okay. My head still hurts a little, but that's to be expected."

"Yeah," Sam answered, nodding his head. "I'm just glad you're okay ….we both are." He stopped waiting for Sky's response, not sure how the young red Ranger would respond. In years past Sky wasn't one to take in others' concern for his wellbeing, but he hoped that maybe this time Sky would allow someone to show that they did care about him, that he did matter, that it would mean something if he had died.

Sky didn't answer right away; he just stared at both of them, not knowing what to say. Saying 'I'm sorry for being such an ass' just didn't seem to be enough. "Thanks," he finally said, sighing heavily, knowing he was going to have to do better than that. This was hard for him because for so long he had isolated all emotions and in some ways might have forgotten how to build a true connection with someone. "…I owe you both an apology for the way I acted ….especially you, Brooke." He knew his actions and behavior with her had been wrong and that he should not have let things go the way they did. "I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for my behavior."

Brooke smiled faintly. She had been hurt by it, but she knew that night at the bar had not been totally Sky's fault. "It's already forgiven. Besides, I kind of knew you were drunk and not yourself." It wasn't like she had gone into anything blind; she had known what she was getting herself into. "I'm sorry that Luc punched you because of it."

"Don't be, I deserved it." Sky smiled briefly before turning his attention to Sam, the one who had always tried to be there for him, tried to help him through the pain even when he himself, a young boy, was mourning the loss of their friends. "I'm sorry, Sam, you always tried to be there for me, but I kept pushing you away. I don't know why I did it. I guess maybe I was just afraid that something could happen to you, like it did with the others, and I thought that you were better off without me."

A part of Sam had always believed that perhaps that had been the reason that Sky had distanced himself from him, out of fear. Fear that the fate that had found the others could find him, because it seemed that all the relationships Sky had had ended in some sort of tragedy, one way or another. "I just hope that we can be friends now."

"I'd like that." He really did want to be friends with Sam, always had, but fear and guilt had always prevented him from developing that. It wouldn't be an easy task for him to get out of the shell he had created. "I can't promise it will be right away, there are things in my life I still need to work out, but I do want us to be friends."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, cadets, but I have something important to discuss with Lt. Tate," announced Commander Cruger. This had really been the first time he had come into Sky's room since he had woken up. "And I believe the two of you are scheduled to take the D-squad through the obstacle course."

After Sam and Brooke left, a few minutes passed with just silence in the room, with the two just staring at one another and the long history hanging on both of their shoulders of a past neither one could forget. Both of them had made mistakes in the last ten years they'd worked together, but perhaps the biggest mistakes fell on the old Commander's shoulders.

"Why'd you do it? Why did you bring them into this?" He wanted to know after all these years, why now Cruger had brought a piece of his past back in his life that he had long ago put behind him.

"Correcting a mistake I made ten year earlier," he responded, knowing full well that Sky was not going to like that answer, and he couldn't blame him given all they had gone through back then.

"Wh-what?" Sky exclaimed. "You're telling me this now! I seem to recall you saying it was out of the question that she wasn't going to let me join and that you would do everything within your power to get me there."

That had been true, he had been furious when Jen Collins decided not to permit Sky into the academy. "It was wrong of me to get involved in the personal matters between you and your mother about attending the academy." He knew that now and a part of him had always known, but back then he just didn't care. There was just so much on the line back then. "A war was coming, planets were being destroyed, alien races were being wiped out. The very end of the universe was upon us." His intentions had always been in the right place, but they had come at a high cost. "I needed soldiers and did not care at the time how I got them."

"But wasn't it always agreed upon that the others, Sam, and I were supposed to join the academy?"

Cruger sighed heavily. "After the death of your father, that changed everything. The Delgados and Landers were all set against it; they disappeared with their children, going their separate ways. Some years later I read that the Delgados died in a car crash, leaving behind their young daughter who jumped around from foster home to foster home until she just ran away." There was no need to tell the rest of her story, somehow she ended up with Jack and the rest was history.

"And Jack's parents?"

"Nothing. I don't know if they're alive or dead." That made it all the worse, because his parents could be out there having no clue that their son had been dead for a little over five years. "It was selfish of me to want to put the fate of the universe in the hands of children. I was no longer the leader I had once been, after the destruction of my planet, the loss of my family, my people, everything I held dear…" He sighed heavily, even now looking back, decades later, it was still very deep withinin his soul: the day he had lost everything that was ever important. "I lost everything. And I did not want anyone to go through that sort of pain…" He stopped, looking into Sky's eyes, because he knew the one thing he had vowed to himself, he had allowed. "I wasn't there for you, Sky. I let you go through the pain alone and I should never have done that, especially after all I went through to get you here. I owed you more than that and I hope that one day you will find it within your heart to forgive this old fool."

* * *

Boom was working hard at the computer, with headphones basically glued to his head, as he typed rapidly on the keyboard. He had been working almost nonstop, sometimes without hours of sleep, ever since he had been handed the only remains of RIC, the old faithful K9 sidekick of SPD. It almost was personal to him, because RIC had been his friend and he felt he somehow owed it to RIC to find out what was going through the robot's database memory of what caused him to take such action.

Boom's eyes lit up, he quickly pressed one hand to his left ear, pushing the headphone closer as he typed something into the keyboard with his right hand and clicked enter. His jaw about dropped. "Protect them…. You have to protect them…." The young gadget-computer-geek quickly switched a setting on the computer along with switching the wires on RIC memory chip, and then an image appeared on the computer screen. It was black and white and the image was a bit distorted and jumped around a lot, but it was enough information to know what was going on.

_There was fire everywhere, tanks were exploding, but two Rangers were not about to give up the fight, as they faced off against Mirloc and Icthior…._

Boom's eyes became glued to the screen, it wasn't even really occurring to him that the video feedback was skipping. "Mirloc ….oh my God!"

_'I knew you couldn't be trusted, you back-stabbing bastard!" roared the Quantum Ranger, as he struck Icthior, but only to have Icthior return the blow with more effectiveness. _

_…..Icthior now hung over the demorphed Quantum Ranger, who was bleeding rapidly. Blood dripped out of the corner of his lip. "I've waited a long time to do this!"_

_"Then you're going to have to wait a lot longer!" roared the Red Time Force Ranger, as he shot his blaster at Icthior, throwing the traitorous SPD officer back a few feet. "Because it's the end of the road for both of you!"_

Boom's heart about stopped as the screen went pitch black for what felt like minutes, but was only a few seconds. The video returned now, with the Time Force Ranger now unmorphed and fighting off Mirloc and Icthior. The Quantum Ranger was lying on the ground barely moving, as flames continued to burn and explosions continued to go off, as smoke built up inside. It was one of the most horrific things he had ever seen, because he already knew the ending of this story.

_"You won't win, Ranger, you will be defeated!" sneered Mirloc. "Do you really think you stand a chance without your brooding friend to back you up?"_

_"I've been up against things far worse then you!" roared Wes._

_"You always were ignorant, Collins," mocked Icthior as he circled around him. "That always was your problem ….and now that will be your downfall!" Icthior was about to strike Wes, when out of nowhere RIC came jumping in and shot a powerful blaster shot from his tail making a direct hit on Icthior._

_"Why you little piece of shit!" groaned Icthior, as he in a quick flashy motion grabbed his blaster from his belt and shot at RIC. The blast sent RIC flying backwards and smashing hard against a wall._

"_RIC!" cried out Wes, crying out to his K9 companion. _

_Icthior laughed along with Mirloc; seeing their chance the two started approaching Wes, but a massive explosion rocked through the whole building, throwing Icthior back. _

Boom had tears in his eyes, watching as the video image came back together. Wes Collins, Time Force Ranger, was struggling to breathe, his eyes were locked onto Mirloc who was trying to get his bearings together, appearing to only be minorly affected by the blast, Icthior was nowhere to be seen.

_Wes was covered in blood, he tried to get up but was unable to. There was a soft rattle behind him. He turned his head the best he could. It was RIC, he was still operable, even in his condition, parts were missing or coming apart, one of his eyes no longer opened. The young Ranger took a deep breath. "….RIC, you have to protect them…" It was getting harder and harder for him to breathe. "I'm counting on you. Protect them ….You have to protect them."_

With those final words the screen went blank. Boom was left speechless, he had known that RIC had been one of the academy's older models, but what he had not known was that RIC had been there that day. That he had witnessed the deaths of two of the greatest Rangers and even the betrayal of Icthior, but what he did not know was why hadn't RIC's memory chip been scanned before?

Boom grabbed the speaker off the desk. "Kat, I think you better come and take a look at this."

* * *

Griffin closed the door behind him as he turned his head towards where Sky was leaning with one arm against the ledge and the other in a sling where he had been struck with the arrow, his back towards him, overlooking the city from the roof of the SPD academy. Slowly he walked towards the young man who he had not seen since he had arrived back on Earth. Not that he didn't want to see him; it was just ….things were _complicated_. "Hope you're not thinking about jumping." He waited to see if Sky would answer, but he never did, didn't even acknowledge that he was standing there just a few feet behind him. "…Dr. Manx was pissed when she came to check in on you and you weren't there."

_Wouldn't be the first time I did something to piss her off. _"I just wanted to be alone, get some fresh air. This seemed as far as I would be able to get for some privacy without some doctor or nurse hanging over my shoulder."

_So he did know he was no longer alone. _"Yeah. It has a nice view up here," answered Griffin, looking around and seeing all the buildings off in the distance and watching how the sunlight hit all of them. "You can see everything up here. I bet it's real nice at night, seeing the stars."

"I wouldn't know," Sky answered softly, staring off into the distance as if he were trying to find some escape from all that was going through his mind. "I haven't been up here in twenty years." It seemed unreal that it had been _that_ long, especially since he had been here for ten long years and had never stepped foot once onto the roof of the building. Perhaps it was because he didn't want to face any ghost of his past, but now that seemed like the only thing he was doing.

_"Be careful there, bud," cautioned Wes, as he quickly secured his arms around his son's shoulders, who was looking down over the ledge. "It's a long way down." _

_"We're really high up, aren't we Dad?"_

_"Sure are!" answered Wes excitedly. "Hey look!" He quickly lifted his young son up and placed him on his shoulder. "You see the big bird?"_

_"Yeah. He's cool, wonder where's he's going?"_

_"Don't know. Probably looking for something to eat, or maybe his mate."_

_Sky was silent for a moment, as he continued to watch the bird flying around. "Dad…."_

_"Yes, Sky."_

_"Are you and Mommy going to get a …divorce?" he asked very softly, as if he was terrified to even ask it._

_Wes quickly lifted him down so he could face his son, he set him back down on the ground and knelt down in front of him. "Where would you get an idea like that?"_

_"You guys are always fighting and the kids at school say when parents fight they get a divorce and the dad always leaves home."_

_Wes sighed heavily as he ran his hand through Sky's hair. "I'm sorry you had to hear us fighting, you shouldn't have to hear that." He wrapped his arm around Sky. "But I promise you, Sky, that your mother and I are not getting a divorce, we're just going through a hard time is all, with me working and grandpa being sick. Okay?"_

_"Okay!" Sky nodded his head and wrapped his arms around his father._

_Wes hugged his son close to him. "I would never leave you, no matter what."_

"It was one of the last things I did with _him_, before…." He cleared his throat. "Well you know…" A few minutes passed by with just complete silence, until Sky finally turned his head briefly to look at the young man behind him. "It was you, wasn't it, that came for me?"

"Why do you think it was me?"

"Because you're the only one that could have found me in time, but what I don't know is why."

"_Why?_" Griffin shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head in disbelief. Was he really that inconsiderate, that Sky couldn't even begin to understand why he had come for him? "Other than the obvious reasons?" he remarked a little harshly. "It may have been ten years, and yeah it hurt, it really hurt, but it doesn't mean I've forgotten. I would have thought you would have known me better than that." Griffin turned away and started towards the door, but stopped just as he opened the door. He wasn't finished, not yet. "You know it wasn't easy for her either, you weren't the only one that was hurting. Yeah, maybe she made some mistakes, but she did the best she could. I guess maybe it just wasn't enough for you, I don't know."

"Maybe it was enough, but I just needed something she couldn't give me."

Griffin sighed heavily as he closed the door and started back towards Sky. "And did you ever find it?"

Sky looked over his shoulder, smiling faintly as he shook his head. "I thought I would, but it didn't turn out the way I would have expected."

"Some things never do," answered Griffin softly.

* * *

"Have you been able to talk to him yet?" asked Taylor as she sat down across from Jen with her tray. The two had decided to have lunch in the mess hall, as they would rekindle a lost friendship from years before.

Jen shook her head. "No. I've tried, but he either turns his head away or pretends he's asleep." She knew it wouldn't be easy; Sky always had been so stubborn, but she didn't think it would be this hard. "…If you know something about him, couldn't you just tell me?"

Taylor sighed heavily. She hated keeping things from people, especially Jen, given all that had happened over the years, but it seemed to be something she had done for a number of years, whether she wanted to or not. "It would be better coming from him, believe me."

"Okay," Jen answered softly, nodding her head, because she knew if Taylor could she would tell her. If it was better to hear it from Sky, then she would just have to wait for Sky to let her in again. "…So are you married?" she asked, changing the subject from her estranged son, realizing that there was still very little she knew of Taylor's life over the years they had been apart, other than she had recently retired from the Air Force after a little more than thirty years.

Taylor smiled briefly. "Rick, a pilot I had known for years, but only became involved with after I left Silver Hills. We were both in Iraq, far away from our homes and families, things just clicked together for us."

"That's wonderful." She smiled. "Did you have any children?"

Her question would go unanswered, as a young cadet with dark blonde hair walked up to them. "Hey, I would have thought you'd be sick of military food by now," Luc joked, as he walked up to the two women carrying a tray in his hands.

"Well, when you've had it as long as I have, you get used to it."

"Can't disagree with that," answered Luc. He briefly made eye contact with Maxie and Matt who were waiting for him by their normal table. 'Well, I'll see you later."

"Yeah." Taylor watched as the young cadet walked over to his teammates.

"Who was that?" asked Jen, curious as to how Taylor knew the young man, because there was no way he could be her son. But the more she looked into his face, the more she swore that she recognized him, but she just couldn't place it.

Taylor licked her lips as she took a deep breath and let it out. "That was Luc ...my _son_." Her heart almost seemed to skip a beat, because of what would come soon after. She quickly got up and walked out of the mess hall, with Jen falling quickly behind her down the hall and all the way outside.

Outside, Jen was still in shock; she couldn't believe it. It was such a surprise to her that she had to ask it again just to be sure. She gently gripped Taylor's shoulder. "Your son? When? ….How old is he?"

"He's twenty, just a couple of months younger than Wesley Junior," she answered softly, as she turned to face her old friend. "I found out when I was stationed in Iraq. Just shortly after, Rick Wilder and I started going out."

"_Wait_!" Jen's eyes lit up, as if something had just popped into her head. "You left for Iraq just a couple months before you and Eric….." Jen's eyes widened as she put the math together and it was just too close of a time frame. When Taylor left she was a month and half pregnant, if Luc was just a couple of months younger than her son, then… "Taylor, was ….Eric the father?"

This was hard for her, finally coming out with a secret that she had been hiding for years from everyone around her, including her own family. Taylor struggled to hold back the tears, because for so long she had kept the truth hidden. "We had broken up." She smiled faintly as a few tears ran down her cheek. "It would have never worked between us; if we stayed together we would have only ended up hating and resenting each other. And then my dad never cared for Eric." In her father's eyes Eric never seemed good enough for her. "….and then I met Rick, and he was so different from Eric." She whipped the tears away, almost shamefully. "Just a week or two before, I saw the news that both Eric and Wes had been killed in action. I found out I was pregnant."

She could still remember that day. Her heart had sunk the moment she heard the words: _'Today we are saddened to announce that two of SPD's finest, Wesley Collins and Eric Myers, have been killed in action.'_ She was devastated by the news, to say the least. Shortly after she had heard, she had gotten sick. It had been Rick who had taken care of her.

"Taylor…." Jen started to reach out to grip her friend's shoulder.

"Rick and I got married just a couple of months before Luc was born." She sighed heavily, as she bowed her head down. She bit her lip, as if she felt guilty. "He never said anything, never once, but he _knew_." She looked up at Jen with tears in her eyes. "_He_ _knew_." She felt a lump in her throat, as it became harder for her to talk. "We were happy, for eight years we were a happy little family, but there was a mechanical problem with his plane and then…. he was gone." Tears streamed down her face, even after all these years it still hurt. "Not even a decade had passed and I had lost the only two men I ever loved." Though things hadn't worked out between her and Eric, she did love him and a part of her loved him still.

"Taylor, I'm so sorry," Jen said sadly, as she wrapped her arms around her friend, knowing all too well what that must have felt like, to lose someone you love more than all the world. She held on a bit longer until she pulled away, tears in her eyes as well. "Does Luc know?"

"No," she whispered. 'Nobody knew, just Rick and me." It had been a secret she had kept from her family for as long as Luc had been alive, Rick had been an only child, his parents had him later in life and died shortly after he joined the Air Force. She really couldn't remember why she kept it a secret to begin with. She was grateful for Luc and was proud to know that Eric had been the father. She turned to Jen. "There had been so many times I wanted to tell him, but I couldn't. He had already lost one father; I didn't want him to lose another." But deep down she knew sooner of later she would have to tell Luc the truth, because not only did she owe it to him, but she owed it to Eric.


	18. Truth Revealed

Griffin helped him back to his dorm room after their talk. It had been the first conversation the two had had in ten years; so much had changed since then. They had changed. Griffin was no longer that little boy he had left behind all those years ago. Ten years had changed him into a man, a better man than him. To this day he was still haunted by sad blue eyes looking back at him, pleading with him, begging even, wanting to know …why. Why was he doing this? Why he was leaving?

_The young ten-year-old boy stared up at fifteen-year-old Sky who stood outside the academy; tears were running down his face as he begged the older boy not to go. "No. I don't want you to go!" he shouted as he grabbed a hold of Sky as tightly as he could, never wanting to let him go._

_Sky firmly put his hands around the boy's shoulders, as he gently pulled him away. "I have to," he exclaimed, as he looked the boy hard in the eyes. "I can't stay there anymore. This is where I need to be. It's where I belong now."_

_"No, it's not!" cried the little boy. "It's not your home ….it never will be."_

_"It is now," answered Sky firmly, not allowing the young boy's pleas to get to him. _

_The boy sighed heavily, recognizing the firm tone, and knowing that it would be pointless to try to argue. "You'll come and visit still, right?" he asked, as he wiped away his tears._

_It took everything Sky had within him not to let those bright blue eyes from eating him up, because he knew deep inside that one day he was going to regret this moment. "….No. I don't think so."_

_"No …Why?" The young boy couldn't understand why one of the most important people in his life no longer wanted to be part of it. He just couldn't comprehend it, in his young mind._

_Sky got down on his knees so he was eye level with the boy, not allowing himself to play into his emotions. "You need to be strong." He started to reach out to him. "You need to-"_

_"NO!" shouted the boy, as he angrily shoved Sky's hands away. "I hate you!" he shouted over and over. "I hate you!"_

_Sky sighed heavily as he stood up, taking one last look at the boy before he headed inside, with those final words playing over and over in his head._

And that same boy who had been hurt by his actions and who had hated him for it, didn't seem to hold any resentment towards him after ten years; the boy who had looked up to him, worshiped the ground he walked on, stilled loved him. "Thanks," Sky said, as Griffin helped him over to his bed.

"No problem." Griffin took a look around the room. "Nice room you got here, is this the one you've stayed in-"

"No." Sky licked his lips. "My first room, I shared, first with Dru …and then _Bridge_." He sighed heavily, the reason he had decided to switch rooms hadn't been because he didn't want a new roommate, though that wasn't totally true, a part of him did not want to share a room with another cadet. "After …I just couldn't stay in that room anymore." There had just been too many memories, too many ghosts, it was no longer a place he could go to and relax. It had become a place of torture, an everyday reminder of what had happened, but even with the room switch he still carried over what had happened.

"Yeah." Griffin smiled briefly as he continued to look around the room until his eyes fell onto a photo, one that he _knew _all too well, it had been a photo he had seen pretty much every day of his life. "She would stare at that for hours some days." He had always wondered what was going through her mind, staring at the photograph, sometimes she would be sad, while other times it would make her smile.

Sky took the frame off his desk, staring at it as he ran his thumb over his father's face. "She cried for days after he died, never in front of me," he said softly, as he glanced over at Griffin. "She did all she could to be strong and hold herself together." He licked his lips. "But I would see her. ….I don't think she ever knew."

_A young five-year-old Sky was passing by his parents' bedroom when he heard someone crying. He peered in the crack of the doorway and found his mother curled up on the bed, clutching a pillow. A second later he felt a hand grip his shoulder, he turned his head and looked up and found Philips looking down at him._

"_Come on, Master Sky; let's give your mother some time alone."_

"_Okay..." he answered softly, watching as Philips closed the door all the way._

"Do you remember that day at all?" asked Griffin as he sat down next to Sky. In all his twenty years no one had really said much about that day, he knew bits and pieces, but not everything.

Sky didn't answer at first, as he set the picture frame back on his nightstand. "Not really. It was a long time ago."

"Yeah." Griffin was smiling faintly, not really buying the answer he had gotten. While Sky had said no, his eyes said something else. "Well, I should be going." Griffin got up from the bed. "Promised Luc a rematch form the time I kicked his ass."

"Be careful this time, he really hates my guts, might give him an edge."

"So I've heard. He didn't exactly have very pleasant things to say about you." Griffin grinned. "Care to give me a reason why, or is it too complicated?"

"Still working on that one."

Griffin nodded his head. He was about to step out of the room when he turned around briefly. "If nothing else, at least hear her out." He paused a moment staring once more at the young man in the photo. "He would want you to."

With those final words, Griffin left Sky alone in his room, with those very words playing over and over in his mind. _'He would want you to.'_ He took the picture in his hand, staring at his father's face, looking at the features that showed a man who was strong, true and kind. "You would, wouldn't you?" It wasn't even a question; he knew his father would want him to fix things between himself and his mother. He sighed heavily, as he turned the picture frame over and opened it from the back. He set the backside of the frame to the side and pulled out a different picture that had been hidden behind the one of him and his father.

And for the next several minutes he stared at the picture, it was of him: he was around fourteen or so, hanging on his shoulders was a nine-year-old boy, and then there was his mother with her arm wrapped around them both.

* * *

"Better watch yourself, pretty boy. I am so going to kick your ass!" exclaimed Luc as he circled around the mat with Griffin.

"Whatever you say, commando," smirked Griffin, following Luc's lead as the two circled around each other, waiting for the first move to be made.

"What's going on here?" asked Maxie, as she sat down next to Matt on the bench.

"Oh, just Luc getting an asswhipping."

"I heard that!" yelled Luc from the mat, as he threw a punch at Griffin only to have it blocked and turned into a quick gripping of the arm, allowing Griffin to twist and turn it and then toss Luc over his shoulders.

"So what was that about kicking my ass?" Griffin grinned, as he stood over Luc.

"Wipe that goofy smirk off your face." Luc's eyes darted up at Griffin as he quickly used his legs, locking them around Griffin and causing him to drop down on the matt. Luc then pinned Griffin to the ground in a locking position. "Got yah!"

"Not bad," smirked Griffin. "But don't get too cocky." Griffin then kneed Luc in the shin, which caused him to roll off of him allowing Griffin to jump back to his feet.

"Why you-" Luc groaned, as he jumped to his feet and started to go after Griffin.

"And now you're getting paranoid," pointed out Griffin, as he easily avoided all of Luc's punchs and kicks without even a thought. "That combined with cocky, is not a good combination."

"Do you ever shut up?"

Taylor just grinned, as she and Jen sat on the opposite side of the room from the bench where some of the cadets were sitting. "Who do those two remind you of?"

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," smiled Jen as she watched the two young men spar against each other, each giving their own wisecrack remarks and nicknames to each other. It reminded her of two other young men from years ago.

"So how did he come to go by Griffin?" asked Taylor.

"Kids at school. On the playground he would always protect the kids that were getting picked on by bullies, and then he was the star of hide-and-go-seek. The kids would always say he was mighty like a lion and can find anyone like an eagle. The name just stuck all these years."

"But he still lets you call him Wes."

"Yeah." Jen nodded her head. "Wesley Michael Collins Jr., is still his legal name, he just generally goes by Griffin."

"He seems like a pretty good kid."

"Yeah." He had been the last gift that Wes had left her, she was two and half months pregnant when Wes died. They had thought having another baby would help save their marriage and fix their problems, but things didn't work out the way they had planned. Wes died on duty, months later Alan died from cancer, and she was left alone with a young son and another one on the way. After he was born, it only seemed fitting to name him after his father. "He is." But now she was beginning to wonder if he had been too good. Too good to her. Watching the way he sparred and goofed off with Luc, she was wondering if she had held onto him too tightly. Sure she had made sure he had training and even gotten his pilot lessons, but what good was all that if she made it seem like she didn't want him to pursue anything in the type of skills he would be best suited for. It made her wonder if the reason Griffin had chosen not to join the Guardians or even come to the Academy was more for her than him.

* * *

He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he had been staring at the picture; time didn't seem to matter, as his mind began to drift several years back. He ran his hands over their smiling faces, seeing the happiness glowing within them. Things weren't always so bad those ten years before he had left. They had been a happy family, maybe not all the time, but at one point even after his father had been dead for a number of years, they had been happy, even if only for a moment, for that one moment it had been enough for him. And he wondered could he get that moment back or had too much time passed?

The young man, who had been through so much over the years, didn't know the answer. So much time had passed; so much had happened …so much damage …so much pain. It was bad enough that he was still dealing with the loss of his teammates and now _this_. There was only so much he could take. He wasn't as strong as he led everyone to believe.

Sighing heavily, he set it aside and picked up his father's helmet with his one hand that was not in a sling, a helmet that had seen many battles, a helmet that belonged to a strong and great man. It had been given to him the day his father had died, in fact it was the last time he had felt close to him. He had never seen his father's face again, no one had told him much back then, but over the years he had learned that his father's face had been too badly burnt and everyone thought that it would be best for him not to see it.

"There were some days I wished they never gave that to you."

He turned his head to find his mother leaning against the doorway of his dorm room. He wasn't sure how long she had been standing there; it didn't really matter to him. But at the same time he wasn't ready to talk to her or deal with her and he wasn't so sure if he ever would be. Maybe it was because he had so much on his plate already or a part of him was still angry with her for not wanting him to join the academy, …or maybe he just couldn't forgive himself for the way he had treated her all those years ago, or maybe it was all of the above.

"It wasn't that you didn't deserve to have it." She would never think that, it was a great honor, just as it was when they handed her the American flag at Wes's funeral. "It was for what you took it as. You were still a little boy; you weren't supposed to grow up so quickly."

The more he thought about it, the more he knew she was right. The moment he held his father's helmet in his hands, he knew at five years old his father was not coming home and never would. Instead of taking the helmet as a memento of his father, he took it as the passing of a torch of what he was to become. With his father gone, it all fell upon him. Whether it was conscious thought or not, he had given up his childhood. All that had mattered to him was training hard so that one day he could become a Ranger, one of the best. At five years old his fate had been set, nothing else mattered.

"I was afraid, Sky," she announced, as she stepped further in the room, but going in slowly because she wanted to give her son as much space as he needed. "For ten years I watched that drive and determination grow within you." She had tried everything she could think of, but nothing worked. She couldn't get that sweet little boy back. "Your thirst for revenge." She knew that look and that feeling all too well, because years before she had felt it. "You wanted to make them pay for what happened to your father." She struggled to hold it together, because she knew the two had more to talk about and she wouldn't be able to do it if she were crying. A part of her knew this was how she should have talked to him ten years before, but she just didn't know how back then. "I am sorry if you ever felt that I was trying to keep you from your dream."

He kept his back towards her, not ready to look her in the eyes, not wanting her to see just how much he was really breaking up inside, because he did have his revenge and even his dream, but at a great cost. He had made the one who killed his father pay, in a heartless defining moment; he had killed for the first time in cold blood.

_Morphed into the red Ranger suit, Sky found himself cornering Mirloc, with no where to go. The purple murderer was beyond being terrified; his body was battered and broken. His eyes showed signs of defeat. "All right. All right!" Mirloc raised his arms up, as if to surrender himself. "You win. I'll go in quietly."_

_Sky didn't stand down or lower his sword. "No," he hissed, shaking his head. "You won't be going back."_

"_What!" Mirloc looked at Sky, shaken beyond belief. "You can't be serious. You would kill me?"_

_Sky didn't answer, he just plunged his sword right into Mirloc, blood splattering everywhere. He continued to hold it there until he saw the light go out in his eyes. "That was for my father!" he exclaimed as he pulled his sword out of Mirloc, and watched as the once most feared creature throughout the universe fell to the ground._

And it hadn't ended there; he would go after Wootox next in bloodthirsty anger for revenge. He could still hear Wootox's final words as he plunged his sword into the monster's heart. _"You'll become the very thing you hate."_ In that moment while it was all happening he had thought that if he had finished things, made them final, then the pain would just go away, that everything would be fine, but it seemed that instead of making things better, he had only made them worse. Killing Mirloc and Wootox had changed nothing; his father was still gone, along with his friends. The only thing it had done was cause him more grief and destroy everything he had ever believed in.

"I killed Mirloc…" He took a deep breath, trying to calm the sickly feeling in his stomach, as he turned to look his mother in the eyes. "And I wish I hadn't. I wish I could go back to that day and do it all over again," he choked, and for the first time in years, he allowed himself to cry in front of his mother.

Jen hated seeing her son in pain. This had not been what she had wanted for him, she never wanted him to have to live with something like this. She went over and sat down next to him. She was hesitant at first, as she slowly wrapped her arm around him, just as she had when he was a small boy. "I wish I could take all the pain away for you."

* * *

"What!" exclaimed Luc, as he stared at his mother in total shock. They were down the hall staring at a wall with several framed pictures of SPD officers, ones who had been honored for their services, a few of whom had been killed on active duty. "No. I don't believe you." He firmly shook his head, not wanting to accept what his mother had just told him.

"It's the truth," Taylor answered firmly; she knew it would be difficult for him to hear, because she knew how much Luc loved and looked up to Rick, he had been a great father to him. It had been because of Rick that Luc had been led to the SPD Academy, she knew that. When Luc was little, Rick had told him stories of the SPD Academy, and of the great Quantum Ranger. She had never asked him to, she wasn't even sure why he did it, because he didn't have to, but she knew she would always be grateful for him for that. "Eric Myers was your real father."

"No, he's not! You don't get to tell me that after twenty years the man I called my father, isn't." He was angry to say the least; this is not what a son wants to be hearing from his mother. "Not after all these years. You have no right!"

"You're right, I don't. You have every right to be angry with me, but I thought you deserved to know the truth."

"And I didn't back then?" he questioned her. "What about after Dad died, you didn't think then would have been a good time?"

"Would any time have been a good time?" she snapped back right at him, not liking his tone, but knew his anger was in the right place. "You were just a kid when he died. I didn't want you to have to go through the pain of losing another father all over again."

Maybe she did have good reason back then not to tell him. At the time of his father Rick's death he had been just a boy, her telling him then probably would have been just too much for him. He was still angry that it had taken her this long to tell him, but then again she was right, there was no good time, not for something like this. "Did Dad know I wasn't his?"

"Yes," Taylor answered, nodding her head. "But that doesn't mean he loved you any different."

Luc nodded his head as he turned to look at the framed picture on the wall of his _real _father. Eric Myers, a great soldier and Ranger, a man he had never known because he had died before he was born. All he had of him were stories he had been told by his father. Maybe he shouldn't be so angry with his mother for not telling him, perhaps in his father's own way he had been telling him all along. Besides, it wasn't the worst thing in the world being related to Eric Myers, in fact, besides his father, his one other hero growing up had been the Quantum Ranger. "Did he know about me?"

Taylor sighed heavily as a tear fell from her eye. "No. I tried calling him a couple of times, but kept hanging up the phone. Things were complicated ...we had broken up, gone our separate ways." She bit her lip, because to this day it still made her heart ache that he hadn't known that he was going to be a father. "I always thought I would have more time." She gripped his shoulder. "But I know he would be proud of you, both of your fathers, because I know I am. I am very proud of you."

It was a lot to take in, learning the truth, that the man you had always called Dad, that you had always thought of that way, was not your father. It also brought in many questions, questions you wanted answers to, but the sad part was that the one you wanted them from would not be there to give them to you. "Could you tell me about him?"

Taylor smiled, grateful that her son was being so understanding, she liked to think that in some way he had gotten that from Rick. "I'd love to."

* * *

She didn't want to start anything up, because they were slowly starting to get back into the rhythm of mother and son, but after her talk with Taylor Jen knew she needed to talk to her son, because there was something very important that he was keeping from her. That he had been keeping from everyone, only a very few people knew the truth. "Did something happen between you and Ally Samuels?" All she knew of Ally Samuels was that she was Taylor's niece, the daughter of Taylor's sister who had died a little more than two decades ago.

Sky's distraught expression changed at the mention of his former leader's girlfriend's name. After hearing Luc's declaration that Ally Samuels was his cousin and then later finding out that his mother was Taylor, a woman he had known years ago as a child, but hadn't seen in a good twenty years, it would only be a matter of time before the pieces came together. "What did she tell you?"

"That I should ask you about it."

He sighed heavily, he wasn't sure if he should be relieved that Taylor hadn't told his mother, but then maybe it would have made things easier if she had. He didn't know. He wasn't proud of his actions and there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't regret some of the choices he had made, but what's done is done. "She was Jack Landers' girlfriend, the guy that was red Ranger before me."

Jen didn't see what that had to do with her son. Taylor had made it sound like there had been a lot more and it had been very difficult for her old friend to even bring it up. "What does that have to do with you?" she asked, as she continued to stand by the sliding door. She didn't want to give Sky any reason to walk away from her, by putting him under any more pressure than he felt already.

"I was the one that told her that Jack wouldn't be coming back." He was trying to prolong this for as long as he could, because once he said it aloud it would be out there, for all to know. "…As you can expect, she didn't handle it well."

"That must have been hard for you to be the one to tell her." She could recall back to the two cadets who had come up to her in the hospital to tell her that Wes had been killed in action. To this day she could remember the look in their eyes, the hurt, the pain of having to tell someone that the person they loved was gone. It would be a moment she would never be able to forget, because that was the day when all the plans she and Wes came crashing down.

_"Mrs. Collins." The two approached her, one holding Wes' red helmet in his hands._

_Jen's eyes looked from the helmet, back to the cadet's eyes who had spoken to her. Her eyes were already filling up with tears, because she knew, just by the look in their eyes, she knew. She knew that the man she loved, that she'd do anything for, was gone and wasn't going to be coming home. She shook her head, not wanting it to be true, wanting this to be some bad dream, that all she had to do was wake up from it and none of this would have happened. "No," she cried. "Please, he can't be…"_

_"I'm sorry..." He had said more, stuff about how brave Wes had been, how he had kept on fighting down to his very last breath, but none of that mattered to Jen. The only thing that mattered now, Wes was gone. "I'm so sorry."_

Sky bit his lip, not wanting to think about how painful it had been for him. He didn't want to remember the tears that fell from Ally's eyes and how she cried, because she would never for the rest of her life see Jack again. A feeling he had known all too well.

"What happened next?"

"Nothing," he sighed heavily. "I left. We didn't see each other until the memorial service." There had been no bodies to be buried, no last chance to look upon their faces, no last goodbyes. Their bodies had been destroyed along with the planet. So in its place they had a memorial services to remember the fallen heroes. That was the day when the monument was placed in honor of their memory.

"Did something happen after the services?" she asked; already she was seeing the struggle in his eyes of a secret that he had kept hidden.

He sighed heavily as he stared off into nothingness; as much as he would like to forget that night and all his actions afterwards, he couldn't. "I was really messed up that night. I didn't want to go back to the Academy, so…." He started, as that event, that choice, played over in his mind.

_**Five years ago….**_

_It was dark out, as Sky stood outside the downtown mini mart. A couple minutes passed by until a bum carrying a brown paper bag came out of the mini mart. Sky followed the bum a couple of blocks until they pulled off into an alley. The bum waited as Sky handed him a couple of twenties in exchange for the medium sized brown paper bag that appeared to be slightly heavy. "Nice doing business with yah, kid," answered the bum, as he folded the money and stuffed it in his pants pocket. He then started eyeing Sky's nice black jacket. "That's an awfully nice jacket you got there…"_

_Sky set the bag down and took off his jacket with no emotion, and handed it to the bum. "Here, take it." Even before the bum could thank him, Sky had picked up the bag and went on his way, already taking out one of the bottles of beer, popping off the cap and taking a long sip of the drink with hopes to drink his sorrows away. He had never been one to break the rules but after the deaths of his friends, the killing of both Mirloc and Wootox, it didn't seem to matter. Nothing mattered …not anymore._

_He wasn't sure how many he had to drink or why he had ended up on Ally's doorstep, the only thing he knew was he just couldn't go back to the academy. It was a blank to him how long he had sat out there drinking away, before Ally __had found him sitting on her doorstep sipping a beer when she arrived back home from the memorial services. He couldn't be sure what she was thinking as she stared at him, it may not have even occurred to him. He felt like shit; and he hadn't slept in what felt like weeks. She never even questioned where or how he had gotten the twelve-pack of beer, given he wasn't quite twenty-one. "Nice night to screw it all away, huh?" He raised his bottle, downing his drink in a long sip._

_She looked at him with sad eyes, knowing the pain of the loss of their friends was still very fresh in both of their minds, especially Sky's. The guilt and pain were still very deep within his soul and it was eating him alive inside, to the point where it seemed the light in his eyes was starting to go out. __"Come on, we don't want you to get caught drinking out here." She extended her hand, helping him up, and led him into the house, into the living room where they both sat down._

_Over the next couple of hours both of them together finished off the twelve-pack of beer, when he broke down in tears as he told her everything about that day. About how it was his fault, the nightmares he'd had, how he killed both Mirloc and Wootox without even a thought, all the blood and horror of that day. And how sorry he was for what happened to Jack, knowing that she cared very much about him. In all truth it had been one of the lowest points of his life, for both of them. …Both of them had lost it that night, falling apart in their tears and drinking away their pain and sorrows, or that's what they were trying to do, because that night something extreme happened, that had changed everything between them._

"_I can't get the images out of my head. Every damn night it's the same damn thing. I can't sleep…. I can't eat…. I can't…." Tears were in both of their eyes, as they stared at each other deeply in the eyes and before either one of them knew it; their lips were locked in a deep heated kiss. To this day, he wasn't sure who had made the first move, it really didn't matter, all that mattered was that it happened. The kiss lasted several moments, growing deeper and deeper with every second that passed, until they both had to pull away for air. _

_They looked at each other in total shock, as if neither one had expected this to happen, but no words were ever said between them. Only tears…. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had just ended at a kiss, but given the state both of them were in, their emotions not in control and their bodies consumed with alcohol, the kisses had continued and turned into something so much more._

_One moment they were making out, holding each other tight on the couch, then before either one of them knew it they were in Ally's bedroom, in her bed, with the lights out. And all through the night they held onto each other for dear life…_

_The next morning Sky woke up with a massive headache and a sickly feeling in his stomach. Slowly he opened his eyes and right away he knew he was not at the academy, he was someplace else. "Ah shit, my head…" he groaned to himself, as suddenly a whirlwind of images flashed through his mind of two people kissing …holding each other …and! "Oh no..." Sky's heart began to race as he finally realized he was not alone. He could feel the heat of another body curled up to his side with their arm draped over his chest. He turned his head and found Ally sound asleep. His heart began to race faster and faster, almost to the point where he couldn't breathe, realizing what had happened and what they had done. "Holy crap!" He ran his hand over his face. What the hell had he done? It all started coming back to him, bits and pieces at a time. After the memorial services and Sydney's father cursing him out, he had taken off downtown, gotten some bum to buy him a couple packs of beer, then he had ended up here half drunk and only got drunker as the night went on. Terrified out of his mind, he pushed her arm off of him and jumped out of the bed, racing to get his clothes and got the hell out of there, all before she ever woke up._

"Like a coward, I left." He sighed heavily; it made him sick to his stomach just thinking about it, because he knew that Ally didn't deserve to have that happen to her, she was better than that. There was no excuse for why he just left her lying alone in bed having to face what they had done together alone. If he could go back to that day and kick his sorry ass for leaving, he would.

Jen could truly see that her son regretted what he had done, leaving Ally the way he had, but she could see there was more to it. He was literally tormented by what he had done and it was really bothering him. She gently gripped his shoulder.

He sighed heavily, knowing it was time for him to come clean about what had happened between him and Ally and what had been the cause of their downward friendship. "But I'm afraid it didn't end there. I would go on to hurt her a lot worse. A lot."

_After he left Ally's he returned to the academy. He had signed up days before to take several members of C-squad on a training exercise in space, as part of their requirements in order to graduate up to B-squad. It would last a couple of months; they would learn survival skills and in-flight combat._

_"Sky, I really don't think you should be going," announced Kat. Her voice was full of concern; even looking at Sky now she could tell he was in no condition to go on any kind of exercise. "It hasn't even been a day since we-"_

_"Don't! Don't you dare say it, Kat," snapped Sky sharply, as he looked her hard in the face. "I really need this. I need to get out of here for a while," as he got his gear all set and made sure all the supplies of the ship were accounted for._

_"Then take some time off from work." She gently gripped his shoulder. "You don't look well."_

_For a moment it was as if he was going to consider her offer, but he shook it off. "No matter where I go, they'll still be gone. I might as well make some good of my time." There would be no point in talking him out of it. He wanted to get out of there for a while, especially after what had happened with Ally last night. In fact a big part of him was hoping that she would have no memory of what had happened between them._

"Those four months I was in space with the C-squad, she tried to contact me several times ….but I never returned her calls."

_Sky was walking down the halls of the SPD Academy; just a little over an hour had passed since he had returned back to Earth with the C-squad. Their training had been a success. The young red Ranger was confident that the squad would move up to B-squad in the coming months. He was about to head into his room when two cadets from the A-squad walked past him; he recognized them as Jarred Davis and Logan Green._

_"You know who I ran into today, while I was out patrolling the city?" announced Logan._

_"Who? Your crazy ex-girlfriend?" Jarred joked, as he playfully elbowed his friend in the arm._

_"No, dumbass," answered Logan, slightly annoyed. "Ally Samuels."_

_"And that is?"_

_"You know …She was Jack Landers' girlfriend, he brought her to the academy a couple of times and she was at the memorial services."_

_"Oh ….Oh. Yeah," nodded Jarred, now remembering who Ally was. "Yeah, she was that hot blonde with a bit of an attitude."_

_"Yeah. Well that's not all she is …now, anyways."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Sky's heart about stopped when he heard what Logan had to say, his face nearly went pale. It took about everything he had within him to answer Logan's question as he passed him by. _

_"Lt. Tate, you all right?" he asked for the second time. "You don't look so hot."_

_"Ah, yeah. I just got back with the C-squad, it was a long trip." Without another word Sky entered into his room and the doors swished behind him. He leaned against them, sliding down onto the ground._

Jen looked into her son's eyes, waiting for an answer, but deep down she had a feeling she already knew.


	19. Letting Go

**A couple of days later…**

Only a few minutes had passed since Kat had shown the video feed that Boom had been able to extract from RIC's memory chip. She knew it would be difficult to show Jen and her two sons. It had been hard for her and Cruger when Boom had called her, telling her that there was something both she and Commander Cruger needed to see. She had thought nothing of it, until she saw it with her own eyes. RIC always had held the truth about that day. The day the academy lost two of its finest officers, because of whom dozens of lives had been spared. But knowing they had saved lives had not been enough to ease the hearts of those who had been left behind; no one knew exactly what had happened. The only thing they ever had to go on were Eric Myers' final words, just before he went into surgery, _"Traitor…"_

"Why didn't we know about this before?" asked Jen, with a few tears falling from her eyes. It had been difficult seeing Wes alive in the video, knowing that moments later his life would be over and the look in his eyes said he knew it. He knew he would not see the light of day, that he wouldn't kiss the lips of the woman he loved, that he wouldn't see his father one last time, play ball with his young son again and that he would not be able to be there to watch the birth of his second child.

She wanted to know why. Why now? Why for all these years had this gone unnoticed? It didn't change anything, Wes was still gone, but for twenty years there had always been a question as to what Eric had meant. Maybe the truth was she always did believe Ichtior had something to do with it, but she had no hard proof. There had been reason to believe he had been burnt alive in the explosion. …Or maybe it was the fact that she had been in the same situation years ago to have a fellow officer, a trusted friend, betray you.

Kat frowned sadly, feeling somewhat guilty, as if certain things could have been prevented. "RIC was heavily damaged, nearly beyond repair. Everything had to be replaced, including nearly 95 of his memory circuits."

"Then how did he know, with just five percent of his memory from back then remaining?" asked Griffin. He was no scientist or mechanic, but he was pretty sure that the odds of something like this happening were not very high.

"I don't really know. The only thing I can assume is that five percent has been dormant all these years; RIC may not have even known it was there until something triggered it." It was the only reasonable answer she could think of.

"Like Ichtior," answered Sky, finally entering the conversation. He had not said a word ever since Kat had informed them there was video data of his father that they all needed to see. It had been both strange and overwhelming seeing his father again; in part it made him feel ashamed of himself. Yes, he had become a red Ranger like his father, but had lost a great part of himself along the way.

"Yes," answered Kat, turning her attention to Sky. "But I'd like to believe something else triggered that dormant memory." She paused a moment, as she looked from Sky to Griffin. "Your father told RIC 'protect them' ….And that's exactly what he did." It had been RIC's unfinished business. It was strange thinking a machine had unfinished business, but maybe that's what always made RIC so special, perhaps that five percent was what separated RIC from all the other SPD K9 operatives. There would never be another one like him; he was a one of a kind.

"Yes, he did," answered Jen, knowing she owed both of her sons' lives to the fallen K9, and even going back to twenty years ago, to the man she never had and never would stop loving, who with his dying words gave the orders to his K9 companion to protect his sons, as if he knew that someday they would need his protection, knowing he wouldn't be able to be there, he made sure that RIC would be there in his place.

* * *

Sky had seen the video of his father's last few moments before Mirloc killed him, and found out just maybe why RIC always seemed determined to stick by his side as if he were his shadow. His father's dying words to RIC had been _protect them. _No one knew, not until now… He just hoped that Kat and Boom would be able to use whatever memory chips of RICS that were left to recreate him, but he knew it was a long shot. Even the data they saw on the video was in bad shape. The odds of getting the old RIC back were against them, but perhaps the truth was he just wasn't ready to let him go, because once he did all remains from his former team would really be gone.

It had only been a couple of days since he talked with his mother, telling her everything from what happened to his team to what had happened with him and Ally, and everything in between, even before he had come to the academy. He felt like he had this big weight lifted off of his shoulders. There was still a lot they needed to work through, but at least they were talking and had come to some understanding of what had happened between them all those year ago. But the last couple of days had left him with a predicament, one left him needing to get away and have some time to himself. His wandering mind led him to the park just a couple of blocks away from the academy, far enough away, but close enough to keep Kat and everyone else happy, given he was still regaining his strength back with each day that passed by. He let out a sigh of relief as he sat down on the bench, needing to rest for a few moments. He watched as a young boy, four or maybe four and a half, tossed a ball around.

It brought him back to happy memories tossing a ball around with his father within this very same park. Some days while his father was working, he and his mother would come and meet him for lunch and then the three of them would come to the park for a little bit before his dad needed to head back to the academy.

_"Okay Sky, keep your eye on the ball," announced Wes as he tossed the ball to his son. _

_Young Sky lifted his hands in the air to try and catch the ball, but it went over his shoulder. "I'll go get it!" exclaimed Sky, as he turned around and ran to get the ball._

"I'll get it!" exclaimed a young boy.

Sky snapped out of his thoughts, he looked down and found a blue and white ball in between his feet. He reached down and picked it up just as the young boy came up to him. It was only then when Sky released that the man who the boy had been tossing the ball around with was Luc, who was standing several feet away from them, making him realize who the boy was.

Luc leaned against a tree, watching from a distance, just as Ally came up from behind him. "Strange, your aim is usually good."

"Guess today my arm is off," he replied with a faint smile.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. I know how you feel about him. I really can't blame you." She knew that her cousin was not fond of Sky and whether she wanted it or not, he did treat her like a sister, just looking out for her best interests.

He shrugged his shoulders. "He's not _that_ bad, for a pompous asshole." He grinned. ". ….Besides, maybe I should give the guy a second chance."

"Really?" Ally was surprised; usually Luc was pretty set in his ways about people and wasn't one to change what he thought about them no matter what.

"Hey. I'm not as hardheaded as everyone thinks I am." He smirked. "I can be a really nice guy when I want to be."

"Your mom talked to you, didn't she?" She smirked, knowing that there was one person that Luc could never say no to.

Luc never answered, he just crossed his arms against his chest, acting all tough. It had only been about a day since he had learned the truth about what happened to Sky five years before, he might not know every detail, he wasn't sure if he wanted to, but he knew enough. He wasn't sure what he would do if something ever happened to his team and he was the only survivor, all he could hope for is that he never would have to. He wasn't giving Sky excuses, he was still pissed about the way he had handled things with Ally, but he was willing to give the guy a chance.

"This your ball?" asked Sky, as he looked the young boy in the eyes.

"Yeah," answered the boy.

Sky played around with the ball for a few seconds before tossing it back to the boy, who caught it. "I used to come to this park too, to play catch with my dad when I was your age."

"Oh, I'm not playing catch with my dad, he's my cousin." "The boy pointed over to where Luc was leaning against a tree watching the two. "My dad died before I was born, in a boating accident."

"I'm sorry." Sky smiled faintly. "My dad's dead too, a long time ago, when I was just a little older than you."

"Oh…" answered the boy softly, he normally didn't talk to strangers, but for some reason the man before him didn't feel like a stranger. Not to mention the fact he was curious as to why the man's arm was bandaged up. "H-how you hurt your arm?"

Rather than getting into a long explanation about the whole ordeal, Sky felt it would be best to tone down how he had gotten hurt into something that would be easier for the boy before him to understand. "I got hurt while trying to arrest somebody; he struck me with an arrow."

The boy's eyes widened. "Are you SPD too, like my cousin?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah. I'm the red Ranger," he announced, as he put out his hand. "Lt. Schuyler Ta-, I mean Collins."

"I'm Ryan," answered the boy, as he shook Sky's hand. "Wow. I always wanted to meet a red Ranger. You think that someday I could be red Ranger?"

Sky didn't answer at first; he just stared into the young face, a face that was still pure innocence, still a child, with so much more to look forward to. He had lost his own childhood and it had taken him a long time to realize just how much that had hurt him. "I think you should just concentrate on being a kid for a little while longer, being red Ranger can wait. So let's make a deal, you be a kid for as long as you can, okay?"

"Okay, deal!" Ryan nodded his head and waved goodbye to Sky as he ran back over to his cousin. Sky watched as Ryan ran over to Luc, who playfully picked him up and placed him over his shoulders, as they headed down the sidewalk away from the park. A few minutes later, he looked up and found Ally heading towards him. He bowed his head down, sighing, as she sat down next to him. It had been weeks since he had last seen or spoken to Ally, next to his mother Ally had been another he knew he had wounded deeply.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he answered back, almost uncomfortably, knowing from past experience the two's conversation never had gone well, but perhaps this time will be different. This time everything was out in the open, there was nothing left to hide. He took a deep breath, as he turned his head to look her in the eyes. "You have a pretty good kid there. He seems great."

"He is. The best."

Sky nodded his head, he knew he didn't have a right to be bothered by it, but it still hurt. Even with knowing he only had himself to blame, it still didn't take away the pang of hurt he felt. "You told him his father was dead."

"Sky-"

"No." He shook his head, looking at her with great understanding for what he knew she had done. He couldn't blame her, he couldn't be angry with her, because she had done nothing wrong. "You did what you had to do, besides it wasn't really a lie, for all reasonable purposes his father was dead. I lost my right to be mad the second I broke those promises I made to you. You didn't do anything wrong, Ally." He looked her right in the eyes, wanting to make it clear the only one who had ever been at fault was himself.

_Sky frantically banged on Ally's door, his heart was racing fast, waiting for her to answer the door. It seemed like minutes passed until the door opened and all his fears were revealed, there before him was Ally and just as the two cadets had been talking about, she was indeed pregnant. "Ally, I-"_

_"You what, Sky?" she snapped, not at all happy to see him. She was furious, upset and broken up inside over the way he had left her and then never returned any of her calls, while he was out with C-squad. "You what?" she asked him again, getting into his face, not caring how uncomfortable she was making him, because it did not compare to all the agony she had been put through._

_"Yo-you're pregnant…" he gasped, just barely able to get the words out._

_"No shit, remind me to tell my doctor the next time I see him," she exclaimed angrily. "What the hell are you doing here, Sky? After four months, why even bother?"_

_"I just came back from training the C-squad, so they would be prepared to take down Gruumm. I overheard from a couple of Cadets heading down the halls that you might be pregnant." It was not the way he would have liked to find out about it. "Why didn't you-"_

_"-You are so unbelievable!" She shook her head, she couldn't believe it, or maybe she could. "I contacted you several times while you were training the squads, left you messages, but you never returned __**one**__!" She looked him hard in the eyes. "…and don't you dare tell me you didn't get them, because I know you did!" Her eyes glared right at him, letting him know full well there was no way in hell he could lie himself out of this. "But hey, I guess I shouldn't have expected much considering the way you left me alone after what happened between us." She crossed her arms against her chest as tears streamed down her face, given her emotional condition there was no way she could hold them back, no matter how much she wanted. "Do you have any idea what that felt like? What went through my mind the moment I woke up? I have never been so…."She choked._

_"I was terrified out of my mind when I woke up that morning. I didn't know what the hell to think-"_

_"Oh!" exclaimed Ally. "So you do remembering sleeping with me ….and these past few months I just thought I magically became pregnant."_

_"What?" Sky heart skipped a beat, his face turned pale, his stomach began to twist and turn. "What are you saying?" he demanded. "You're not saying, th-that-" _

_"You bastard!" She slapped him across the face, cursing him again. Never in her whole life had she been so disgusted. "You want me to say the baby's Jack's? Fine. I'll say it. It's Jack's. Happy? Don't worry, you don't have to worry about a thing. You're off the hook."_

_He didn't know what to think at that point; his mind was blown away and going all over the place as everything Ally had just said played over and over in his mind. "Ally I-I… If I had known, I-"_

_"What?" she snapped, taking control over her emotions. "You would've returned my calls? You would have turned right around and come back to Earth? You would leave SPD and let someone else handle Gruumm?" She shook her head, not believing him, because he had given her no reason to believe him. "No you wouldn't. The only way you deal with your problems is by putting yourself in positions where you don't have to deal with them. Every time I look in your eyes I see a man that doesn't want to live." She got it, that he had gone through something horrible, but now she was going through something herself and needed stability, someone to count on. "I can't have that in my life, not now, not ever…"_

_"I'll deal with my problems. I promise, I'll stop, I'll get help, I'll do whatever it takes. I'm here now…"_

But he hadn't kept his promises. He hadn't stopped. He kept pushing himself, working himself to death to the point where he couldn't remember how many times he'd landed himself in the hospital, and that was even after they had defeated Gruumm. It finally had came to the point that it became too much for Ally and she left, without even a word to him. He had found out the hard way.

_When the front door opened to Ally's home, it was not Ally who answered the door but her father. Ethan Samuels looked Sky directly in the eyes, shaking his head disapprovingly. This had not been the first time the two had met, no they had met several months prior, a conversation that had been just as bad as the one he knew he was about to have now. _

_"I told you, Schuyler, if you kept down the path you were on this would happen."_

_"Gruumm needed to be stopped!" he announced almost desperately. "I couldn't just sit back-"_

_"That was months ago!" answered Ethan angrily; there was no way he was going to let Sky justify his actions. "Gruumm was no longer a threat, but you just kept on looking for more. You do not get to go and try to get yourself killed every day and come here acting as if you've done nothing wrong!" He was angry and disgusted with the young man before him. "I understand you went through a terrible ordeal losing your teammates, but that does not excuse the way you have treated my daughter and her son. They are not an afterthought!" he shouted._

_"I know! That's why I came here; I want to be part of their lives…. I'll get some help, I mean it this time."_

_Ethan sighed heavily, because he could see that Sky truly did want to be there, but he could also see that he was still headed down that dangerous path, that distant and lost look was still in his eyes. The light and will to live wasn't there. "I'm sorry, son, but in this situation you don't get to decide when you're ready. Not with this. Not anymore, you lost that chance a long time ago."_

"I'm glad that you didn't die out there," Ally announced, snapping Sky out of his thoughts, knowing that it might be one of the nicest things she had said to him in a long time.

"Yeah." He sighed heavily, all the while knowing he didn't deserve her kindness or her sympathy. "You, and just about everyone else, especially my mother." He bit his lip, almost as if he were afraid of what would be said next or sometime after. The last time Ally and he tried to have a conversation, they ended up in an argument and he didn't want that to happen. He didn't want to fight with her; too much time had already been wasted arguing with her.

"You should know that Kat gave me the envelope that you tried to give me before." She watched, as he turned to look at her. "I read it …" She pulled the letter out from her pocket and handed it to him. "I read it before my Aunt Taylor came into town." It had been a letter where he revealed the truth to her about who he really was, a truth that he had kept hidden for years, a truth that only Kat and Cruger knew about him.

Sky stared at the letter for a few moments; it had been practically everything he had wanted to say to her face, but never could, something always got turned around and he let his pride get the best of him.

_Dear Ally,_

_I know I screwed up and that I've hurt you in more ways than one. I could try to explain myself, but there is no excuse for the way I've treated you. You needed me and I wasn't there. I wasn't there for you and you had always tried to be there for me. I should have been a better friend, the kind that you deserved to have. _

_I know you don't understand why I'm leaving again, I don't expect you to. I'm not even sure if I understand. I'm not sure if I understand much of anything anymore. I really don't know anything anymore. Except for one thing, there is one thing about myself that you have the right to know about and whatever you decide to do with it is up to you. Kat and Commander Cruger are the only ones that know. My father was a red Ranger, Wesley Collins. Ten years ago when I was fifteen I left home, changed my last name and came to the academy. I haven't spoken to my mother or little brother in ten years._

_I'm sorry if you feel I'm dragging you into my personal family issues. I just thought that after everything I put you through, I just wanted to be honest with you for once, because I know I wasn't in the past. I want you to know I wish the best for you, because you deserve it and more. You're stronger than I'll ever be and I know that someday you'll meet a guy that will treat you with respect and make you just as happy as Jack did._

Sky folded the letter back up and handed it to her. "I wanted to tell you that to your face. I just…"

"I know." She smiled faintly. "You and me and conversations haven't mixed well together, but we seem to be doing okay now."

"Yeah, at least until I say something out of line or stupid."

"Don't beat yourself up so much." She gently squeezed his hand. "You've done enough of that for one lifetime."

"I'll try not to, no promises though." He smiled faintly. "I've done a lot of things in the past ten years that I'm not proud of," but didn't really want to get into all of t just yet. There would be time for that later. "…My mother asked me to come home."

She could see that he was dealing with a lot right now, more than anyone should ever have to go through at one time, but that's where he was right now. "Wh-what are you going to do?" She hoped that he would finally come to his senses and start the healing process of moving forward, especially with the reentrance of his mother into his life.

"I'm going to go home." It hadn't been an easy decision, but he had taken a long hard look at his life and the near death experience had shed some light on things that he had never wanted to deal with until now. "I've already talked with Commander Cruger; I'm taking a leave of absence from the academy, from what I've been told I have lots of vacation time to use up."

"How long do you think you'll be gone?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, I don't know," he replied as he met her eyes, at this point he wasn't entirely sure if he was going to come back. "I've forgotten what it means to be a Ranger." He used to know, but somewhere over the years he lost it. "And until I find that reason again, I need to concentrate on other things."

"Like?"

"Like, making up for past mistakes, repairing relationships that screwed up, then trying to fix the _one_ that hasn't mattered for a long time." He watched as Ally turned to him, smiling faintly, as she gripped his shoulder. "My friendship with Dru ended a long time ago and I'm not even sure if it ever existed." It had only been recently since he put the pieces together surrounding Dru, all he could assume was that sometime early on Dru must have learned who he really was. As much as it hurt he knew he might have to accept that he and Dru never were friends.

"You're letting him go."

"Yeah. Think so. The only way to break the hold he's had on me is for me to make him not matter." It was hard, because there would always be a small part that would care, that would remember that friendship even if it wasn't real; a part of it had felt real to him.

"I'm sorry." She really was sorry, because she could tell it was hard for Sky, finally coming to terms with Dru. "You going to be okay?"

"Not today, someday I hope."

* * *

Jen and Cruger stood face to face for the first time in a long time; they had not spoken to each other since he had called her, telling her she needed to come to Newtech immediately. They had barely said two words to each other in the days she had spent here, but after all these years this was something they both needed to do.

"Though I don't deserve it, I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive this old fool. I crossed a line with you that I never should have and for that I'm sorry."

"You took ten years with my son away from me and you tried to do the same with my other son." While the whole ordeal with Sky was going on, Cruger had also tried to go after Griffin back when he was just a young boy, trying to persuade him to join the academy like his older brother. "That really hurt, especially since we had been friends."

Cruger sighed heavily, knowing every word she said had been true. He had tried to go after Griffin when he was just a boy. Griffin had a great ability, an ability he wanted at his disposal. He hadn't cared that he was just a ten-year-old boy, that hadn't mattered to him. It made him sick to his stomach to think that there was a time when he saw their abilities as only tools and not gifts. He couldn't blame Jen if she never forgave, he wasn't so sure if he could forgive himself.

"But I do forgive you, because I know Wes would want me to." She had put too many years and too much energy into hating him. It had been troubling times, a war was coming and they all knew it, before Sky was born she had fought in it. War can do things to you, change you, make you do things you never thought you would.

He knew forgiving him was hard for her; Jen was always a hard and strong woman, a person whose respect and trust you needed to earn. She was someone he had always respected and it was hard to lose her as a Ranger on his squad, but understood and respected her wishes of wanting to be there for her family. But somewhere down the line there was a moment he had forgotten all about family. He sighed heavily. "I don't know if I should tell you this. I wanted to tell you twenty years ago, but…" He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "It just didn't seem like the right time. I don't know if there will ever be the right time for this, but I think it is something you should know."

Jen could see this wasn't going to be easy for Cruger to tell her and that almost frightened her, because there were only two things that she knew were difficult for him to do, apologizing and telling someone something they probably don't want to hear, but need to. "Just before Wes went downtown to stop Mirloc, he handed me an envelope. He never said anything, just looked me in the eyes and he was off." That was the last time he had seen him alive. "After…. I had forgotten about the envelope, until a couple of days after the funerals."

_It had only been a couple of days. A couple of days since he lost two great men, men who would be missed. They were the bravest of the bravest, best of the best. It pained him knowing that a young mother now was widowed with a young child and another one on the way. _

_He let out a heavy sigh as he sat down at his desk and started moving files around. There was so much paperwork that needed to be done, so much to do, but the deaths still fresh in his mind prevented him from thinking about anything else. As he moved another file around that was when he saw it. The envelope that Wes had handed to him, just before ….he went to meet his fate, just before the light would go out and the forever sleep would take over. Taking a deep breath, he opened it and pulled out the folded letter._

_Commander Cruger,_

_I regret to inform you, but after the month has ended I will be resigning from Space Patrol Delta. It has come to my attention my focus is needed elsewhere. My father's ailing health has not improved; it's only a manner of months now the doctors say. I would never forgive myself if he died and I wasn't there by his side. I haven't spent enough time with my son and I fear he'll be all grown up before I know it. And with a baby on the way, my focus will only be more needed. ….And I worry that I may have taken my marriage for granted, after everything Jen and I went through to be together, I can't sit back and let it slip through my fingers. She and my children are my whole life, they mean more to me than being a Ranger ever will._

_I apologize for any inconvenience this will cause you, but I need to do what is best for my family. Please understand. I have already discussed this with Lt. Myers; he has given me his blessing. It has been a great honor serving under your command; you are a great leader and true friend. _

_Sincerely,_

_Lt. Wesley Collins _

A tear trickled down Jen's cheek. Wes was going to leave SPD ….for her. "I didn't know."

"I didn't think you did, that's why I wanted to tell you. I should have showed it to you a long time ago, but it never felt like the right time."

"There wouldn't have been a right time, not for this." She smiled faintly, as she held out the letter to him. "But thank you for showing me this." It did bring some ease to her heart just to know it, even if it couldn't change the ways things had happened. It was enough to just know.

"No, you keep it. So you'll always know, you were always first."


	20. Healing and New Beginings

"So is this everything?" asked Griffin as he picked up his brother's duffle bag, along with a box.

"Yeah. That's it."

"Okay. ….So you coming?" Though Sky had packed everything up and the room was pretty much empty, except for the sheets on the bed and a few books on the shelf, he was getting the feeling that his brother wasn't ready to leave the place that had been his home for the last ten years.

"Yeah. There's just something I need to take care of before I go. I'll meet you guys out front."

Griffin nodded understanding as he headed out of the room, nearly bumping into Luc. "For a guy that's supposed to sense when other people are coming, you came pretty close to bumping into me," joked Luc.

"I'll miss you too, Wilder," smirked Griffin as he went on his way down the hall, leaving both Luc and Sky to stare at each other in what felt like an awkward silence.

Luc wasn't sure what had caused him to come here; he hadn't planned on coming to see Sky off. They weren't exactly friends and had never been the friendly type with each other. In fact the last time the two had seen each other was when they had gotten into a fist match with each other. "No fear, I'm not here for another fist fight," he joked. Maybe this was just unfinished business for him, and though he still wasn't fond of the man before him, he saw him in a new light. Over the past few days the story of what had happened all those years ago had fallen into place, and maybe now he understood him better, not that it was an excuse for everything that had happened, but a better understanding.

"Well, I kind of deserved the last one you gave me." Though Sky had known he was hitting rock bottom even before Luc's fist made contact with his face, that had been the moment of truth when he really had to accept the man he had become, though he didn't handle it well afterwards. "In fact it kind opened my eyes to some things."

"Well, if you ever need another punch in the face, you know where to find me." Luc smiled.

Sky returned the smile with a slight chuckle, knowing that this was probably the first time the two had ever been friendly with each other. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." But that still didn't explain why Luc had shown up, because he knew if the young cadet didn't come here to bash him out that there had to be another reason, one that for the life of him he couldn't figure out. "So what are you doing here, Luc? Because I'm pretty sure it wasn't to say goodbye to me."

That was for sure, his intentions really weren't to say goodbye or to get all chummy. And since he wasn't the type to draw things out, he just got straight to the point of why he had dropped by. "I ….I heard about what happened to your team …the whole story." He couldn't even imagine what that must have done to Sky, only that it probably ate at him from the inside out. If anything like that ever happened to his team, he knew he would never forgive himself. "It must have been horrible."

"It was," Sky answered softly. It was still a subject he did not like to talk openly about, but he was slowly starting to open up about that day. He sighed heavily, looking Luc right in the eyes as he picked up the small shoe like box. "I really do hope that you never have to experience something like that." It was something that he didn't want any one ever to witness, because he knew no matter how much time passed by, no matter the years, it would be something that he would never forget. It was just something he had no choice but to live with, but he wouldn't wish anyone to live with this pain, not even his worst enemy. "Be good to your team, Cadet Wilder, don't ever take them for granted." And with those words he left his old room, leaving Luc behind. They might not be friends, they might not be anything to each other, but maybe now there was an understanding between the two.

Luc never answered, he didn't need to, because he would take Sky's last words to heart, because he knew that one day his team might not be there. Anything could happen in their line of work. One moment you could be having a few laughs and the next you could attending your teammate's funeral, with the memory of holding their dying body in your arms as they took their final breath. It was something he never wanted to happen, but knew that it was a possibility.

* * *

They would be faces he would never forget, names he would always carry with him. Not a day had gone by that he didn't think about the friends he had once taken for granted, and he would have done anything to get them back …even for just a day, a moment. He would have gone to the ends of the Earth to get them back if fate would allow it, but life wasn't some fantasy where everything that you wanted to have happen would. His friends were gone and he wouldn't be able to get them back, not in the way he would like, not in a way that would make things better. He couldn't change what happened, no matter how much he wanted to. There were no do-over's, no second chances, not for something like this. The only thing he did have a second chance at was honoring his friends, his teammate's memory and the friendship they had shared. He would live, he would live for them, as hard as it would be, as hard as it was to let go, he would do it, because deep down he knew that's what they would want. They would want him to carry on with his life and be the best he could be. "No matter where my life takes me, I will think of you always. You're the best friends I could ever have, my only regret is you, and it took losing you to have to figure that out."

It was a sad regret, but it was one he couldn't let go and forgot, but it was one he would have to live with, as a reminder to himself, to never take anything for granted. Whether he liked it or not there were people in his life who did give a damn about him. "I just want you guys to know that I'm going to be okay, maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday …so please forgive me if I don't come around for a while." A part of him did feel guilty that he was leaving the academy, a place he had sworn he would never leave, but he needed to do get his life and priorities back in order and figure out where he was supposed to go from here.

"Saying goodbye?"

Sky sighed heavily as he turned around to face Kat, someone who had always been there reaching out to him from the beginning, but had always been shoved away. "For now."

"You're doing the right thing, Sky, going home is the best thing for you now. You may not think that right now."

"I'm sorry that I acted like a jerk to you."

"It's okay." She smiled faintly. "You had been through a lot, more than one person should ever have to go through. What's important now is that you get yourself the help you need."

"Yeah." He had been through a lot over the past five years, a lot of which he had brought upon himself due to his pride and stubbornness by not allowing the ones who were reaching out to him to help him through his pain. "I just wanted to say thanks." Kat had never given up; even when he had given up on himself she had never given up on him. She kept fighting for him and perhaps in some way he did owe his life to her.

"No need. You're not the first solider that I've encountered that went through a terrible ordeal that needed a hand to get back up."

Sky smiled, as he waved goodbye to Kat. "I'll see you around, Kat."

* * *

"Here we are," announced Griffin, as he switched on the light and set down Sky's things, as Sky walked around the old bedroom.

It seemed so unreal to be back in his room. He hadn't been in it since he was a teenager and it looked just as he had left it, nothing had changed, it almost as if he had stepped into a time warp, going back in time. "It's just the way I left it," he said as he sat down on his old bed.

"Yeah. I think she wanted to keep it that way." He himself hadn't been in this room in a number of years, in fact since just about six months after Sky had left for the academy. The room had been locked so it would go undisturbed just in case Sky ever did decide to come home. "So I'll let you get settled."

But before Griffin even made it out the door, "Griffin." Sky bit his lip. "I do remember _that_ day."

"I know." Griffin turned back around and leaned against the wall. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it."

"No. It's probably good I talk about it and you should know," he answered, as he looked his little brother in the eyes. "He was your dad too." He took a few moments to gather himself, after all it was a little over twenty years ago, but he did remember that day. "They had been arguing. I don't remember about what." That didn't really matter anymore. "….And that's when he got the call."

_"Dad, where you going!" exclaimed Sky as he ran out the door after his father._

_"I have to go to Newtech City; your Uncle Eric needs some help." Wes bent down and kissed his son on the forehead, then ran his hand through his son's hair. "I'll be back soon."_

_Sky then watched as his father morphed before him, calling for the special flyer that SPD had created for him so he could travel between Silver Hills and Newtech faster._

He still could remember watching as his father disappeared, not knowing that would be the last time he would see him alive, but he remembered a feeling he had in his gut that something bad was going to happen. He knew it probably had a lot to do with the way his parents had been arguing, but he had only been five. "He probably meant it, you know," he heard his brother say. "It's not like he knew that was going to be the day he was going to die."

"I know." His father had always come back all the other times, just not the last. "…About a half hour later, Mom grabbed me and we got in the car and drove to Newtech." He could only assume that it was because his mother hadn't liked the way things had been left with his father and she wanted to make up before he had gotten home that night or the next morning. "Said that we would have dinner with him after he was done working." They never did have dinner.

_By the time they had gotten to Newtech sirens were going off all over the place, some roads had been blocked. And once they got to the academy, no one would really tell them anything, so he and his mother sat in the lounge and waited. He didn't know how much time had passed by, no words were ever said between him and his mother, just complete silence. _

"And you know the rest; they told us what had happened and gave me Dad's helmet."

Griffin knew that it was hard for his brother to tell him, especially now, given everything that he had been through. "Thank you for telling me."

**A couple of months later…..**

"I'll get it!" announced Sky as he rushed down the stairs. He had been lifting weights in his room when he heard a knock, and opened the front door just as his mom came up from behind him. There standing in front of him was Ally and standing at her side was her little boy. "Ally. ….Ah, hey." It really was a surprise to see her at his front door; they hadn't talked since he left Newtech City, he hadn't really talked to anyone from Newtech City other than Sam a couple of times.

"Hey yourself." She smiled.

"Hi Sky. Remember me from the park?"

"Yeah." Sky smiled as he looked at Ryan. "With the ball." His eyes looked back at Ally, he wasn't sure what to expect from this visit.

Sensing that her son and Ally had a lot to talk about, Jen stepped in and held out her hand to Ryan. "Hi Ryan. I'm Sky's mom, why don't you come with me and have some cookies while your mom talks with Sky."

"Can I, Mom?" asked Ryan, looking up at his mother.

"Sure, go ahead." She smiled as she watched her son take Jen's hand as they walked down the hall towards the kitchen. Once they were out of sight she turned her attention back to Sky.

"We can go talk out back if you like."

"Yeah. I'd like that." There was so much they still needed to talk about. It only took a few moments until Sky led her to the back of the house. "It's really beautiful out here," exclaimed Ally, as she took in the well built outlook of the pool landscape and garden entrance. It just felt so relaxing and colorful, a place you could go to and unwind, not to have to worry about a thing.

"Yeah it is," answered Sky, as he led her over to one of the benches near the garden entrance. It had been something he had forgotten until he came back home; he could recall spending hours swimming in the pool when he was a kid.

"You look good." He did appear healthier, no longer had that coldness in his eyes and his arm was no longer in a cast. "You feeling better?"

"I've been _okay_, just been getting back in the swing of things." He wasn't a hundred percent, but he was getting to the point where he was starting to feel alive again.

"Do you still get nightmares?" She didn't want to ask, but it seemed like one of those questions that needed to be answered. A part of her knew that in some way they would always be a part of his life; as a child she could recall her own father having nightmares from when he had been in the war.

"I still have them, but not like it was before." That was one thing he was grateful for, because it had been a long time since he had had a good night's sleep and now he was able to sleep and not have to worry about the darkness of that terrible day lurking in the back of his mind. He knew it would always be a part of him, but he was learning to live with it and go on.

"That's good." She was glad, because she had seen with her own eyes how that nightmare tore him apart inside, and no one should have that sort of thing continually repeat itself in their dreams. "…You think you'll ever go back?"

Finally the question that he himself had played a hundred times over in his head. Would he go back to Space Patrol Delta and regain his position as standing Red Ranger, head Lieutenant? There was no doubt in his mind that he loved being a Ranger, that rush he felt every time he morphed, every time he brought a criminal to justice, but was that enough? Did he remember what it really means to be a Ranger, the most important part that over the years he had forgotten? Before he had left Cruger had told him he would always have a place at SPD and he could take as much time off as he needed, there was no rush. "Honestly," he licked his lips, "I don't know." He turned to meet her eyes. "For as long as I could remember all I ever wanted to be was a Ranger, like my dad. But after everything that's happened, I don't know if I could ever really go back."

"Well, if it helps any, Jack told me once that he was honored to fight by your side and that you were best of the best of Rangers." Though she knew Jack and Sky had their differences and there had been times when all Jack wanted to do was throw Sky through the nearest wall, she remembered the look in Jack's eyes and the sound of his voice when he talked about what kind of Ranger Sky was. "He said he hoped to be half the Ranger you were."

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day he hoped to be that man, that Ranger Jack had been honored to fight side by side with. "I do hope to get back there someday, I just don't know if it will happen."

"If it's meant to be, it'll happen."

"Well, until then, the academy's in good hands."

Ally smiled, she really was grateful that Sky and Luc had set aside their differences; it made coming here a little easier. "Things are going good with your mom and brother?"

Sky nodded his head. "Yeah. Things have been going great, better than I thought." He bowed his head down, sighing, as a faint smile came across his face. "You know, Syd was going to make it her golden mission in life to fix my relationship with my mother." Sometime after he had told both Syd and Bridge that he and his mother didn't talk, she had come up to him a couple of days later vowing that one day he and his mother would be back on good terms.

_"You know I'm going to make it my mission to see to it that you and your mother will speak to each other again."_

_"Whatever you say, Syd," muttered Sky as he rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the SPD Academy handbook. "But don't get your hopes up."_

_"Oh, I don't need to, it's a promise."_

He hadn't thought about that in years.

"She always did like to stick her nose into things," she grinned. "Especially where it didn't belong."

"Yeah." He smiled faintly as he stared off into the distance, not really looking at anything, as if his eyes were searching for something that wasn't there. "Sometimes I really miss that." He turned to glance at Ally. "Kind of dumb, since I've had just about everyone for the last five years sticking their noses into my business."

"Maybe, but it was different with Sydney." She stopped and searched Sky's eyes, not really looking for an answer, because it had always been there. "You loved her."

He didn't answer at first, as if he was afraid of the answer, because it was something he didn't like to admit but he knew he couldn't hide it, as hard and painful as it was he just couldn't deny it any longer. "Sam asked me that once, right after he told me that he had overheard Sydney telling Z that she loved me."

"What did you tell him?"

"I lied. I guess it was just easier that way, but the only one I was really lying to was myself."

Ally gripped his shoulder. "Do you ever wonder what it would have been like, if you two had been honest with each other?" She had always known since the first day she had met Sydney that the pink princess had feelings that went beyond friendship towards Sky, and she along with the other Rangers sensed that connection wasn't one-sided, as she recalled every so often catching Sky glancing over at Syd when she wasn't looking.

"I used to, but speaking from experience I can't live in the past or what might have been. I'll always love her and wish that I would have told her, but…"

"But what?"

He wasn't even sure himself, he never thought of himself as the type to settle down, but a part of him did feel like he wanted to have that someday and he couldn't have that if he was still hung up on Syd, but then what girl would be crazy enough to stick it out with him? "…I don't know."

"Did your mom ever try to meet someone new after your dad died?"

"She tried. Only a couple of guys, it was a few years after he died, but nothing serious." He was around eight or nine when his mother started dating again. He even liked a couple of them, they were nice enough. None of them would ever be able to replace his father; no one ever would, and none of them lasted for more than a handful of dates. The guys coming and going was harder on Griffin then it was on him, sometimes he wondered if that was part of the reason his mom stopped dating. "I guess she just couldn't love anyone more than my dad, so instead of trying to find someone else she'd rather just miss him." Though at times he could see his mom did look lonely, she never seemed to regret that decision. To this very day she was still very much in love with his father and always would be.

"It must be something to have a love like that, to withstand time, even after death. I hope that someday I can come close to having something like that."

"If it means anything, I hope you do have that someday." He really meant it, after everything he had put her through, everything she had gone through, she deserved to be happy.

Ally smiled, it was very rare to see the softer side of Sky, the side of him that he always locked away. "Thanks. I hope you are able to find that too."

Sky laughed softly. "I don't know if I'll ever be _that_ lucky. I haven't exactly had the greatest track record." He grinned. "Besides, Griffin is the one with the charming personality that all the girls like."

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to get you drunk," she joked.

* * *

"Here you go, sweetie." Jen smiled as she placed a plate full of cookies and a glass of milk in front of Ryan.

"These are all for me?" he asked excitedly, his eyes seeming to glow as he stared at the scrumptious cookies, as if he were in cookie heaven.

"Of course, you're a growing boy."

"Wow. Thank you…." He stopped, realizing he didn't know what to call her…

"Jen," she answered.

"Jen. That's a really pretty name." Ryan took one of the cookies and dipped it into his milk before taking a big bite. "Yummy!"

"Hey, Mom-" Griffin came to a dead stop as he entered into the kitchen after just returning home from a lunch date with Kris. His eyes glared at the young boy sitting up at the counter eating cookies. He had wondered whose car that was in the driveway when he pulled in, but he wasn't expecting this. He had only found out shortly after he and his mother brought Sky back home.

"Hi, I'm Ryan," announced the young boy as he continued to eat his cookie. "Who are you?"

Seeing that Griffin couldn't quite get the words out, Jen stepped in, wrapping one arm around her youngest son's shoulders. "He's my son Wesley, but everyone calls him Griffin."

"That would make you Sky's brother, right?"

"…Yes, it would." Griffin nodded his head as he shook the boy's hand. He squinted a little. "Quite a grip you got there, kid-o."

"Sorry…" Ryan quickly let go and went back to eating his cookies, avoiding eye contact with both Jen and Griffin.

Griffin walked around the counter and pulled his mother to the side. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yes, he is," his mother answered firmly, as she took a quick glance at Ryan to make sure he was all right. "Ally and Sky are out back talking."

"Are they going to…."

"I don't know. It's their decision." It was a delicate situation, one that she knew needed to be worked out between Ally and her son.

* * *

Sky turned to her, looking her right in the eyes as if he was trying to reach out to her very soul. He had hated how he had treated the other girls he had been with, but there was one that stood out against the rest, that he regretted the most. "I shouldn't have left you, Ally," he said almost out of nowhere.

The look in her eyes said she wasn't expecting for him to say anything like that. It seemed to surprise both of them. "I shouldn't have left you like that." He hated himself for it, because that wasn't the type of guy that he wanted to be, it wasn't who he was raised to be. "I know it hurt you. And I'm sorry, because there was no excuse for it."

"Truth is, I forgave you a long time ago. Yes, I was hurt to wake up alone after what happened between us and not have you there, but I had to move on." She had been hurt, more hurt than she had ever been, but she had also come to realize that night had not been one hundred percent Sky's fault. She had let him in; she had chosen to drink along with him. "It takes two to tango. I know you didn't show up that night at my door expecting for that to happen."

"We both weren't expecting for that to happen." He had never had intentions of hooking up with Ally that night; in fact that was the furthest thing from his mind. It was just where he had ended up; he couldn't go back to the academy, not in the condition he had been in, there was nowhere else for him to go. "It just did."

They had both been pretty messed up and just maybe they had each latched onto the other, wanting to just hold onto something as if their life depended upon it. The look in the other's eyes said they both knew that is what had happened. The aftermath was just where everything got messed up between them. Mistakes had been made, things had been said and feelings had been hurt. There was no going back, the only way they could go was forward.

After a couple minutes of long silence, Ally finally broke it with a heavy and heartwrenching sigh. Now for why she had come here, why she had made the three hour drive from Newtech to Silver Hills. "I want you in _his_ life." She stopped for a moment as she looked him in the eyes, waiting for his reaction. "He needs a father, he needs _his _father."

Sky didn't know what to say or even think at the moment, those had been words he has been wanting to hear for a long time, but he had long believed he had blown any chance at ever being Ryan's father. "But what about-"

"I always wanted you in his life." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, because she had been the one who had told Ryan his father was dead, she had been the one to keep him from his father. "…I know that I told him you were dead, but you have to understand I was-"

"You don't have to explain yourself." He knew it couldn't have been an easy decision for her, his own actions and behavior were what led to the choice she had to make. "You did what you had to do to protect him. Had you stayed, had I been in the picture then ….I probably would have dragged you both down with me." He reached out to wipe away a falling tear. "You're not the bad guy here." He recalled a time that he wasn't sure if Ally was aware of, but there had been a moment when he could have done the right thing, when he could have straightened up and gotten the help he needed.

He had been in Newtech General Hospital after he had lost control of his bike during a high speed chase. He had wound up with a concussion and cracked ribs and had been admitted for a few days, which just so happened to be the day when Ryan had been born. He still could remember being in his room and overhearing the nursing staff talking about a newly born beautiful baby boy, calling him the Samuels baby.

He had managed to get the nurses to take him up to the nursery, saying that he had been partners with Ally Samuels' boyfriend who had died in action. He could still remember the feeling and the moment…

_In his wheelchair he looked through the window, staring at the little sleeping boy. It was both a great and sad feeling at the same time. A moment later a man stepped up behind him. "I know what you're going through, I too lost my team when I was in the war …but when I got back my wife was pregnant and she needed me to be there for her."_

_Sky didn't have to turn around to know who the man was; it could only be one man, Ally's father. He never said anything to him; he didn't know what to say._

_"You've put my daughter through at lot," he announced firmly. "He doesn't need that." He pointed to the baby boy through the window. "If you continue down this path, I promise you that she and the baby will leave and it may be a long time before you see either one of them." It wasn't a threat, but more of a father protecting his daughter and grandchild. He gripped Sky's shoulder. "You do what you have to do."_

_After that Ethan Samuels motioned for the nurse to bring out the baby boy and then he walked down the hall. It was then he held his son for the very first time, it was an unbelievable feeling, one he knew he would always treasure. He would have liked to believe that holding this wonderful miracle in his arms would make all his problems, all the darkness, vanish, but the nightmare was still there. He couldn't expect the baby boy he held, so young, so innocent, so helpless, to take it all away. _

"Neither are you."

He laughed under his breath. "I don't know about that. There are a lot of things I've done that I'm not proud of." He bowed his head down, sighing. Though things were better for him, there was still one thing he couldn't shake off. "Maybe Wootox was right about me."

"No! He wasn't right!" she exclaimed, as she got up and stood in front of him looking him right in the eyes. "You want to know the difference between you and Wootox?" She waited until their eyes were locked, because if there was one thing he needed to hear from this whole conversation it was this. "The difference is, you care that you go to that bad place. Wootox had stopped caring a long time ago." It was then when she wondered if this could be part of the reason why Sky felt compelled about whether or not he could go back to being a Ranger, because a part of him felt like he was no better than some of the guys he brought in. "You're not a monster, you're our son's father and so much more."

Sky didn't know what to say, he was both scared and happy at the same time. "You're sure about this?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed happily. "He needs you, just like you need him. He needs someone who understands what he's going through, someone that's been there before." She watched as Sky's eyes widened, as he realized what she was talking about. "He has an ability, he doesn't know I know, but I've seen it."

His son had an ability, an ability he had gotten from him. It had always been something he had wondered about: if it was possible that his change in DNA might have caused him to pass a special trait on to his son. "What is it?"

"Super-strength."

He knew it couldn't have been easy for her having to deal with something like that, it hadn't been easy for his parents when his ability first started coming out."….I'm sorry. I should have been there from the beginning, in the way that you needed me to be."

"What's important is you're here now."

About ten minutes later Ally and Sky walked into the kitchen to find Griffin sitting next to Ryan along with Jen. Ally stepped forward a few feet, reaching out her hand. "Ryan, could you come here for a minute?" Sky hung back a few feet, his heart was pounding against his chest, never had one moment scared and excited him at the same time. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Griffin, we should-"

"No." Sky interrupted his mother, locking eyes with her. "You two should be here for this." It did in a way concern them, as it would end up affecting their family, but in a good way if all things went as he hoped they would.

"What is it, Mommy?" asked Ryan, almost a little cautiously as he walked up to her, taking her hand, not sure if he was going to like what his mother had to tell him. "What do you need to tell me?"

This wasn't going to be easy, though he was a pretty bright kid he was still very young and might not understand the choices and events that took place before and even after he had been born. She knelt down to eye level with him. "It's about your daddy…" She already had tears in her eyes. "He-he isn't gone."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

Ally struggled to get the words out as she stared into his confused blue eyes. She had lied to him about his father; her intentions at the time had been good. Back then Sky wasn't someone she could count on, she wanted to count on him and in the back of her mind had always hoped that he would come around. But when Ryan started asking questions, questions that she couldn't answer, she was left with little choice. As hard and painful as it was she had told him his father had died.

Sky took a deep breath, knowing it was on him. It always had been; if he hadn't dug himself in so deep Ally never would have had to tell the lie. She never would have needed to protect their little boy from him. "Because he's right here," announced Sky, knowing he needed to be the one to explain. He needed to explain to an almost five year old boy why he had not been around all these years. He stepped up to Ryan, looking him right in the eyes as he knelt down in front of him, as Ally stood up and stepped back. "I'm your father."

Ryan didn't know what to think at that moment, because all he had known about his father was that he had died before he was born. "But my mom said you were dead," he exclaimed softly, as he looked from his mother and now to the man claiming to be his father. It made him angry that his mother had told him such a thing. Sure he had Luc and his grandfather, but they weren't the same as having a dad.

"Don't be mad at her." Sky cleared his throat as he briefly glanced a look at Ally before turning back to his son. "If you're going to be mad at someone, be mad at me. Your mom was only trying to protect you."

"Protect me?" In his young mind he couldn't understand why he would need protection from his own father.

How could he explain? There was no easy way and there shouldn't be. The only thing he could do was try. "Before you were born, something really bad happened." Jen could see this was hard for Sky, but she couldn't step in and help him, as much as she wanted to this was something he needed to do on his own. "My team, my friends, they were hurt really bad."

"You mean they died?" He might be just a kid, but he knew enough to know what it meant when someone said that someone was hurt really bad.

"Yes." Sky nodded his head softly. "I was the only one that made it out alive, and for a very long time I blamed myself, a part of me still does. And until recently I was in a real bad place where I kept hurting myself, people tried to help me, especially your mom, but at the time I didn't want help." It wasn't the whole story, but it was all he could really explain to the young boy. He didn't need to know every grim detail of the events that had taken place; maybe someday when he was older, old enough to handle it.

"Are you okay now?"

"I'm working towards it, but I want you to know how sorry I am for not being around and I hope that one day you can forgive me, Ryan." He didn't know what else to say, it was all up to his son now. He would have thought it would have taken time for the young boy to decide what was to come next, days, weeks, maybe even months, but that didn't happen. Something unexpected happened to Sky, when for the first time he felt the arms of his little boy wrap tightly around his neck.

"I love you, Daddy."

Sky put his arms around his son, lifting him up from the ground and holding him close as their cheeks brushed against each other. "I love you too." It was a joyous union; this had been the moment, the moment that he had fought to live for, this was what he had fought for.

Sky glanced at his mom and brother, smiling, and then turned to Ally to thank her, knowing that it took a lot for her to give him a second chance. It was then when he saw something in her eye, maybe it had always been there, maybe he just hadn't noticed or just didn't want to, until now. He couldn't be sure what it meant, only time would tell and as far as he was concerned he had all the time in the world.


End file.
